


Bond

by starks_children



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Torture, Bucky Barnes Recovering, F/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29255196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starks_children/pseuds/starks_children
Summary: Her name was Victoria, and she had a pretty ordinary life. And then Steve Rogers saved it. After that, of course, she got hopelessly entangled in the life of a super soldier and his best friend. She should have regretted getting mixed up with the boys from Brooklyn who couldn't stay out of trouble, but she didn't whatsoever. The bond they shared could get them through anything, or so she believed...
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! So this is me introducing a new fic of mine and a new OC who I love dearly. Thank you for reading and I hope you'll stick around. This work has been inspired by many stories I read on fanfiction a while back, which I have since lost track of, but the original characters and plot are entirely my own. I sincerely hope you enjoy this work -- I'm very attached to it. :) Chapters 1-3 are all going up today, and after that I hope to get on a regular posting schedule!

** Switzerland, 2014 **

A single arrow whistled cleanly through the chilly air, soaring high above the ceiling before finally slicing into its target, cutting the old, rotted beam in half. This, in turn, caused a large section of the ceiling to cave in, tumbling to the ground with a crash. 

Clint Barton leapt down from his perch on the corner of the roof into the rubble and waited for the dust to settle a bit. Judging from the apparent age of the technology of the computers in front of him, he could tell that this building was ready to fall apart anyways, having been built in the mid-nineteenth century and abandoned decades ago.

"Couldn't resist making a scene, huh?"

Clint spun on his heels to face Natasha Romanoff, leaning on the railing on the wall, waiting for him.

"You know me so well," he agreed. He pulled out another arrow out of his quiver and began to string it on his bow. "Gosh, this place is a dump. I'm almost expecting a ghost to start attacking us at any moment."

"You're not too far off," Natasha said as she silently joined him by his side and the two began walking together through the facility. "This was  Arnim Zola's personal lab before his death forty years ago. SHIELD intelligence has it on file that he spent most of his time studying the effects of nuclear radiation."

Clint scoffed. "SHIELD intelligence? You mean  _ everyone's _ intelligence. After what you did, I wouldn't be surprised if the CIA or MI6 has already infiltrated it and sorted through all our  dirty little  secrets."

"Not everything was leaked," Nat argued. "Hydra kept certain information very close to their chest."

"S o  is that why we're here?" asked Clint , raising on e eyebrow. "So you can find out everything about Hydra before Fury does?"

"Maybe," she replied, twisting one of the corners of her mouth. "And partly because I owe Steve."

Clint smirked. "You and Rogers, huh?"

"Don't be stupid," Natasha snapped as she got to work on the door that stood before them, kicking open the lock on the front so that it swung open. "He saved my life in Washington more times than I am willing to admit . The least I can do is help him out a bit by getting rid of Hydra once and for all , who's caused him so much pain already ."

Clint  did not take that as a believable answer, of course, but he didn't say anything more about it as they ventured in to the new room. It was unusually cold inside, and practically empty except for a small examination table and an upright metal container up against the wall. Ligh ts flickered on l azily as he entered, Nat having flip ped on the light switch only a few moments ago.  As he stared around the room, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was something no one except Zola was ever meant to see.

Clint, his curiosity p iqu ed, made his way over to the…  _ machine _ , for lack of a better term. Up close he could tell that it had begun to rust, and that a low humming came from inside it. Feeling it with his fingers, it was ice cold and vibrated mechanically.  There was a tiny window close to the top of it and inside he could see fog swirling around.  His best guess was that it was some type of old refrigerator.

What did Zola use it for, to store his fruits and veggies? Then why did it need a window? Nat had told him that the scientist studied nuclear radiation here… if s omehow  he  was able to create  radioactive  fruit that could talk and see out the window , Clint called dibs on reporting it to Fury. He snorted to himself as he reached forward to wipe the condensation off the glass.

But when he peered inside cautiously, what he saw was most definitely  _ not _ food.

"Clint, I've been calling you for the past five minutes ." Natasha strode in from another area to his right, her arms crossed in the chilly room. "There's an operating room back there and it looks like the surgeons stopped right in the middle of a procedure; there's blood all over the table, but I can't tell how old it is. I managed to find a vial and take a few pictures. Zola might have brought the Winter Soldier here for further experimentation."

"I don't think so," Clint said darkly. "Nat, look."

His confused tone was one he almost never used, which is most likely what persuaded Natasha to come check out what he found without hesitation. She peered inside the same way he did and her eyes immediately widened.

"I'm calling Steve," she said, already pulling out her phone. "He's going to want to see this."


	2. Chapter 2

**Brooklyn, New York, 1942**

She didn't know what to do. The crackle of the slowly dying fire was the only welcoming thing in the room. Victoria listened to the whistle of the cold wind blowing harshly outside, through the trees. Looking down at her bare hands and feet, she noticed that they had lost almost all color. She shivered uncontrollably now. 

Victoria decided to go and check on her younger brother, Dominick, who was only six months old. She found him in his little crib in the bedroom they shared, getting chill after chill, but the child was silent, save for a few whimpers. She picked him up and rocked him in her arms, hoping to warm him with what little body heat she had left and worried that his face felt cold. 

They had been living like this for about four months now, ever since their father had passed. Their mother, having died in Dominick's birth, had left the two of them alone with their father. He had recently turned to alcoholism, which is what killed him two months later. He never became abusive or anything, just quietly drank himself to death. One night he drank too much, and it was the end for him. 

So Victoria was alone, left to provide for her and her baby brother, with no family to help. She'd been doing fine, working as an intern at a nearby dentist office, until the war hit and it was forced to close down. Then the winter came, and she couldn't hide her fear of not being able to make it through the harsh next couple of months. 

Victoria cradled Dominick tenderly, lighting a plain candle on the table next to them for light, a little warmth, and something to distract the baby from the sound of the storm outside. Finally, he fell asleep so she laid him down softly in his crib and crawled into her own bed. She pulled up her old, tattered blanket around her shoulders and closed her eyes, longing for sleep. 

She was awoken by a loud sound what felt like just five minutes later. Her eyes flew open to see that wind rushed around the room freely and water was trickling in from cracks around the window frame. The floor was submerged, covered with about five inches of freezing water and filling up. Victoria slowly stepped into the icy water with her bare feet, scrambling for Dominick's crib. Upon opening their bedroom door with difficulty, she realized that her parents' entire apartment was flooded completely. She held her brother high above the water and trekked through it to the front door. There was no point in trying to stay; she had to find them a shelter for the night, preferably a _dry_ one. 

She briefly considered asking one of her neighbors if they could stay the night, but that wasn't an option, because if this had happened to her apartment, then more than likely all of the apartments were flooded, as well. They all had the same crappy apartments, financed poorly by the same man. The only difference with her neighbors, though, is that they had family members to go and stay with, while she didn't. 

Victoria knew that there was a homeless shelter several blocks down, and figured it was their best bet. She started down the sidewalk with Dominick in her arms, the thought of warmth her only motivation. Being out in the freezing rain caused the child to start crying, however, so she gently rocked him as she walked, whispering, "Shh, shh, Dominick, I've got you. We're going to be alright." 

But the longer she walked, the more the thought of being alright seemed like a faint hope than a real possibility. Victoria felt her legs shake as she powered along, and her arms were tiring quickly. It must have been just past four o'clock in the morning, because no one populated the dark and gloomy street, but she knew people would start coming out soon. 

She was so focused on keeping her balance and not falling that she ran straight into a man, who glared at her irritably. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir, I'll have to be more careful -- Mr. Desmond!" Victoria exclaimed. Though her outburst was very unladylike, hope burst in her chest. Mr. Desmond was her landlord; if anyone could help, it was him. 

"I received a call this morning from another tenant, who explained that the storm seems to have flooded your rooms. I was just on my way to take a look." 

His tone sounded very agitated, as if he had a thousand better things to do than to make sure no one on his property had drowned. 

"Yes, I woke up to find everything drenched," Victoria agreed. "My father never repaired the windows, and Nathaniel and I have no one else to stay with. I know you said that you're not liable for any damages, but we have nowhere else to go except the shelter--" 

"Then you will have to hope there is a spot for you," Mr. Desmond said grumpily. "Look, girl, I allowed you to stay after the death of your parents because they were some of my most faithful tenants, but you ought to have been married years ago. And after the agreement you signed last week, I am afraid that I cannot allow you back into the apartment until the damages are fully paid for. As of now, you are no longer a tenant of mine. Good night, miss." 

And with that, the old man began to walk away, as if he hadn't just destroyed what was left of her life. 

"But, wait!" Victoria called after him, the cold drying out her throat. "Sir! I will do anything--" 

But it was no use. She could no longer see him through the darkness. She turned around and marched angrily toward the homeless shelter with hopeless tears welling up in her eyes. 

After what seemed like hours but was really only thirty minutes later, she arrived at the homeless shelter. She peered longingly through the foggy window and could make out a crowded room full of people lying all over the floor, wrapped up snuggly in thick blankets. Victoria was so lost in the thought of going in there that she almost didn't notice a woman speaking to her. 

"Ma'am, we're all full," she said. The lady was wearing a nurse's outfit and carried a pot of soup with several small bowls. 

"There _has_ to be room somewhere," Victoria protested. "This is the only place we have left to go." 

"No, sorry, there are way too many mouths to feed already. You're not the only one affected by this storm." 

She inhaled. "Then at least take my brother. He's just a baby." 

"I can see that." 

" _Please_?" 

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we can't do anything for you here. You'd best take him down to the orphanage just two blocks away. They will take him in." 

But before she could do anything in response, Dominick started to wail and wave his fists in the air, as if on cue. The caretaker looked around nervously and then shoved a bowl of a bit of the lukewarm soup into Victoria's hands. 

"Give this to the baby," she ordered, though her expression seemed to soften a bit at the sight of their helplessness. "And get him to the orphanage." 

It took a lot of determination for Victoria to go back out into the cold after being this close to getting warm, but she did it anyway, for her brother. But not to take him to the orphanage. There was no way she'd ever let him go there. Dominick _wasn't_ an orphan. He had her, and she loved him more than anything. 

She took him around the corner of the building and sat down on the cold brick-paved alley. Victoria placed Dominick in her lap so that she could wrap him in her arms and held the bowl of soup. Her teeth chattered involuntarily as she spoke. 

"Are you h-hungry, D-Dominick?" 

She tipped the bowl into his mouth and let the soup drain down his throat, waiting for him to swallow. His face regained a small amount of its color within a few moments. Then she took a turn, had a small sip, and gave the rest to her brother, who needed it more than she did. Once it was gone, she laid it on the ground and cuddled up with Dominick against the wall, holding him to her chest and resting her back on the side of the building. 

"Wake up. Wake _up_!" 

Victoria sat up and rubbed her eyes, staring up at the elderly woman. "Mrs.… Mrs. Banner?" 

"Yes, child. Get up! I have to get you to the hospital." 

She looked around her tiredly as she got her focus back. "Where's Dominick?" 

"I took him to the orphanage, now come with me so I can get you help. Gosh, you must be freezing to death out here! It's a wonder you haven't come down with hypothermia. You'll be lucky if you only get two or three fingers amputated…" 

Victoria stood but she didn't go with Mrs. Banner to the hospital. She had to get to Dominick. 

"You took him to the orphanage?" she demanded. 

"Why, yes, dear, it's the only place he'll be safe!" 

She didn’t hesitate to take off running in the direction of the orphanage. Mrs. Banner called after her, but she ignored it. She forced her legs to move, pain now with every step. Pumping adrenaline was the only thing that kept her going. 

_I have to get to_ _Dominick_ _, I have to get to_ _Dominick_ _…_

However, in her exhausted and freezing haze she tripped over her own feet and landed hard on the pavement. She looked down at her hands and saw they were scraped up and bloody, and now her entire body screamed in pain from the fall. Victoria was barely able to crawl into an empty alleyway and curl up into a ball, no longer able to feel any part of her body. The cold had now become some kind of twisted warmth to her, and she could feel her consciousness slipping, not sure if she'd ever wake up. She didn't even have the strength to lift her head. 

As she lay there, what sounded like someone slamming against the wall could be heard faintly. It sounded so far away she didn't even think it was real, just some hallucination. Then there was another, then another, and then someone was kneeling over her. 

"Ma'am, are you alright?" Through her clouded vision she saw the outline of a man in front of her. 

_Are you God?_ she thought. _Because if you are, please keep_ _Dominick_ _safe._

Victoria's eyes closed and she could no longer open them. Something warm took her hand and she held on to it tightly before the last of her strength faded. She drifted off into black, and she didn't remember anything after that. 


	3. Chapter 3

_Cold._

All she knew was cold. All she could feel and think was cold. She wanted to die -- no, she didn't want to die. Victoria just wanted to be _warm_. She couldn't remember what warm felt like… she searched her memories but nothing was there… if she couldn't be warm she didn't want to feel… she drowned in cold and felt herself fading away… 

"I couldn't just leave her there, Buck." 

The pleading voice of a young man snapped her back into reality. It was the same boy that had spoken to her in the alleyway. But now that Victoria could see him properly, she realized he wasn't a boy at all. He was just a… small man, not any younger than her but the same height, and she was short. His frame was skinny and his cheekbones were hollowed in; he almost looked like he was sick. His ill-appearance paired with a purple bruise under his left eye made her want to ask if she shouldn't be the only one lying down. 

And yet there was more. He seemed… familiar to her somehow. Victoria was sure she had seen him before, but _where_? 

"Of all the things to happen to you on Christmas Eve, you get beaten up and take a girl back to your place afterward," a second voice replied, sounding protective and disappointed yet amused and slightly disbelieving at the same time. "Seriously, pal, what were you thinking? You've heard of a hospital, right?" 

"She'd be dead before she got there. You should have seen her, Bucky -- all blue and nearly frozen to death. Besides, those _guys_ would have gotten her if I hadn't!" 

The not-so-stranger's voice sounded defensive now as he added, "I know how to treat frostbite. Mom used to have so many patients for it during the winter. There was some medicine left in the cabinet, anyways." 

The one named Bucky asked quietly, "You don't think she's homeless, do you?" 

"Well, if she is, she should've been at the shelter. She shoulda known not to be out in this weather all by herself…" 

"So should you," Bucky replied sharply. "Aw, _Steve_ , what are you gonna do? She's probably got family looking for her." 

"I don't." 

This came from Victoria, who had finally mustered up the energy to speak, though her voice came out as little more than a low, scratchy whisper. She opened her eyes fully, and both of the guys looked relieved. There was the blond guy with the thin features -- Steve -- and the more muscular one behind him who looked like a man straight out of the glossy magazines she could never afford, with his well-chiseled face, neatly combed dark brown hair, and light blue eyes. The two of them were as opposite as night and day; Victoria never thought she would see an odder pair of friends. 

And both of them looked surprised to see that she'd been listening in on their conversation; Bucky even looked slightly ashamed, but the expression quickly left his face and turned to one of concern. 

"Ma'am, how are you feeling?" Steve leaned forward to study her with worried blue eyes. Victoria struggled to push herself up onto her elbows and coughed weakly. She was no longer cold, she realized -- wrapped under a thick blanket and lying in front of a stronger space heater than the barely glowing embers at her apartment earlier -- but she wasn't quite warm yet, either. Outside the small window behind the men, she saw swirling snow and felt sick at the sight of it. 

"Better than before," Victoria managed. "Wh--what happened?" 

"I found you lying in an alley off Church Avenue," he explained. "I know a little about treating hypothermia, so I brought you back to my place. I gave you some painkillers in case you were hurting real bad and hoped you would pull through. I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but you were in bad shape." 

_I thought you were God,_ she almost told him, but she bit the words back. Realizing that his reply seemed very rehearsed as if he'd planned for her to be upset with him for taking her, she decided to show him how grateful she was. 

"Thank you for saving me," Victoria said. Steve blushed bright pink and looked away, embarrassed. 

"I told him he needs to start charging for his services," Bucky cut in with a cocky grin. "But he won't listen to me." 

She tried to smile politely at them even though her mind was racing as fast as the snow swirled outside. She'd gone from keeping warm in her apartment to being homeless to losing Dominick to nearly dying of frostbite and hypothermia, and then being rescued by these two boys. All in a span of twelve hours. Did she just have the worst luck on the planet, or something? It seemed like something was trying purposefully to screw up her life. At this point, she wouldn't doubt it. 

"And I would pay him if I had any money," Victoria regretfully admitted. "I apologize, Mr.…" she trailed off, realizing that she didn't know his first name, and that she only knew his first name because she'd overheard it in their private conversation. 

"Steve Rogers," he filled in for her. Steve held out his hand and she grasped it, remembering how it was her only source of warmth before she had blacked out in the alley. "And this is Bucky Barnes." 

His familiar voice and name made something click in her brain, and she suddenly remembered where she had seen him before. 

On her sixth birthday her parents had given her a shiny new quarter, and she had run quickly down to the corner store just two blocks down from their house in order to buy a piece of candy with it. On her way out of the store, a nice-sized peppermint stick in hand, a group of older boys had tried to steal it from her. They proved much too strong for her, but she was saved when a little blond boy had happened by and started to fight them. He, being only about seven, was no match for them either, but he had caused such a commotion outside the building that the store-owner had come out and banished the boys away. One of the boys had snatched her peppermint stick as he ran away, however, and Victoria started to cry, because the two of them did all that work for nothing. At the sight of this, he immediately ran into the store and bought a new one for her. To thank him for his sweetness, she split the peppermint stick in half and sat down on a bench with him. The two kids enjoyed the candy together, and Victoria had a really nice birthday because of him. 

Though she had long forgotten his name, she never forgot that day, and she never forgot his sideways smile that he shot her while she was crying about her candy. Now she could connect the little boy with the man who had rescued her. 

Bucky Barnes was also a name that sounded familiar, though not as much as Steve's. If she thought about it hard enough, she recalled that she had heard it every now and then at school, in reference to a popular guy who always seemed to hang around "that wet noodle Rogers", which made a lot of sense to her now. 

"You're the candy boy," Victoria exclaimed to Steve, which merited two confused and intrigued looks. "You gave me your candy once after mine got stolen and we split it in the park in front of Barney's corner store together." She quickly did the math in her head. "Sixteen years ago." 

His puzzled expression transformed before her eyes into one of realization. "I remember that…" Steve began with a short laugh. "I got punched in the nose, but it was worth it." 

"I guess some things never change, do they, pal?" Bucky playfully clapped his friend on the shoulder, using less force than was normal, Victoria noticed. He didn't want to hurt him, and she knew then that the gossip girls back at school were wrong; Bucky wasn't friends with Steve out of pity as she'd overheard people say many times. They were true friends, and instances like this are what made her never trust gossip she heard from girls at school. They wouldn't know a good friendship if it hit them in the face. 

Victoria smiled at them, glad that she could now identify them as friends rather than totally strangers. It was then that it struck her that she hadn't introduced herself to them, so she said quickly, "I'm Victoria Hensley." 

"Hensley?" Bucky furrowed his eyebrows, looking shocked. "You're Bob Hensley's daughter, then. My father was in the 105th infantry with him back when he was in the war. He said that Bob handled the conflict the hardest out of all the men. Said that his heart was in the right place, but his mind just wasn't. Dad mentioned he had a family in Brooklyn." 

She glanced down at her hands, which now, thankfully, had returned to their normal pink color. Whatever medicine Steve had given her must have helped. "He did," she murmured softly. 

"Did?" Bucky asked. Victoria couldn't tell if he was genuinely concerned or not; he'd had a reputation at school for being a relentless, careless flirt. 

"He died," she replied, still softly, the opposite of the harsh words coming off her tongue. "Last week." She didn't elaborate on the cause of death, because if Bucky knew of her father, then he would know how it happened. 

"Did you go to George Washington?" Steve asked rather randomly, naming the high school that she went to. He stared at her as if she were somehow becoming even more familiar to him. Victoria nodded. 

"After I graduated, I became an intern at Floyd's Dental before it closed at the beginning of the war," she told him. She felt like hiding her face in her hands because now she supposed she had to explain to them exactly why she'd been half-frozen to death when Steve had found her. "You see, I don't have… _anyone_ , right now. My parents are dead and my little brother was taken to an orphanage against my will. I was trying to run after him, but…" 

Victoria swallowed, picking at a loose thread on the blanket before remembering it wasn't hers and quickly dropping it. "…But I didn't have the strength to continue. That's when… _Steve_ … found me." 

She managed a small smile at him, and his answering smile was enough to brighten the whole room with sunlight. "We -- my brother Dominick and I -- were forced out of our apartment after it was flooded last night because of the storm. I couldn't afford to pay for new windows, and Desmond -- my landlord -- told me I can't go back unless I give him the money." 

She looked down suddenly, realizing her mistake. She could get into a lot of trouble if Mr. Desmond ever found out what she'd just said about him. 

"I've heard about him," Bucky interjected, to Victoria's surprise. "There have been several lawsuits against him on claims that he's very unfair to his tenants, but the court can never find good enough evidence to arrest him, so he has always been let go. I guess he moved to Brooklyn, now." 

"I don't think I would have been able to pay another month's rent, anyways," Victoria admitted. "It was only a matter of time before he kicked me out… I would have preferred it to have been in the summer, though…" 

Part of her was shocked that she was confessing all of this deep information to boys she barely knew, but she had no one else to turn to, and she was grateful to Steve for saving her life. And they weren't _complete_ strangers, anyways. 

"I don't need to get any of my fingers amputated, do I?" she asked, only half-joking. Steve laughed, breaking the tension. 

"I don't think so," he replied, taking her slim fingers into his hand. Warmth like she'd never felt before spread up through her fingertips again as he closed her hand in his and now, she was getting almost hot, being still under the blanket and in front of the fire -- but you wouldn't see her complaining. "I brought Bucky over because… well, he's pretty used to taking care of me when I'm sick, and according to him you'll be fine." 

"As fine as I can tell without taking off your clothes," Bucky clarified, smirking and shrugging. Steve glared at him and Victoria felt her face grow hot. "What? It's the standard procedure we learned in first aid class to check for frostbite. You're lucky I didn't actually do it." 

Steve, however, quickly dropped her hand out of awkwardness. No one had ever spoken so straightforwardly to her before, especially guys she didn't really know. She was just glad her blanket was nice and thick. 

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you want," stuttered Steve, clearly still uncomfortable. "Until you get better, that is. If you're still not feeling well--" 

Victoria cut him off. "I'd like to go to the orphanage and see my brother. Please." 

The two guys exchanged a long look as if they were mentally communicating, a look that only really good friends can have. Finally, Bucky said with a shrug, "My folks own a car. I can drive her over there." 

"If it's not too much trouble," she was quick to say, even though she wouldn't have looked forward to having to trudge through the cold again. She was anxious to see Dominick no matter what the cost. 

Bucky snorted, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Doll, we wouldn't let you walk back there on your own." The caring comment left his lips easily, and meeting Victoria's eyes, he winked at her. She didn't know how to respond for a second, so she tried for a smile and then turned her gaze to the floor, unsure of where to look. Again she wondered if he was being serious or if he was just putting on a show. There was something almost protective in his stare, but of what, she didn't know. 

"Are you hungry?" Steve inquired, getting up from where he sat on the side of the bed and pulling on a jacket that was at least two sizes too big for him. "I don't have much, but I'm sure I can find some dinner…" He trailed off, his eyes wide and honest as he looked questioningly at her, and a sense of strong trust hit Victoria suddenly. There was something simple and earnest and genuine about Steve that was impossible to deny. 

She _was_ hungry, but Dominick took priority over her hunger at the moment, and she didn't want the blond man going to any more trouble for her after saving her life and taking care of her for the past several hours. "I'm just fine, thank you, though." 

"Buck?" Steve asked, but Bucky shook his head, leaping effortlessly out of his own chair. 

"I've got stuff at home, don't worry." 

He casually stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed towards the door. Pausing in the doorway, he turned to Victoria and cocked one eyebrow slightly. "You coming?" he asked with another smirk that had obviously won all the hearts of the girls at George Washington High. 

"Of course," she said, getting out of the bed slowly yet determined not to show any signs of illness; she felt as if she'd been unconscious for several days, though she knew it had only been several hours. Victoria knew that her hair must have looked a mess and tried desperately to smooth it down before leaving the room. She took in Steve's apartment; flowery wallpaper covered the walls and parts looked as if someone had tried in vain to rip part of it off. Other than that, it was not unlike her apartment, with a living room, a small kitchen, one bathroom and two tiny bedrooms. 

Her _old_ apartment, she corrected herself painfully. That's when the fact that she was homeless really set in; she had nowhere else to go once she found Dominick. Maybe Steve should have let her freeze to death, because she would rather live homeless with her brother than to live alone and keep him at the orphanage. 

Bucky said something lowly to Steve that she couldn't quite hear, and, with another glance at her -- his eyes weren't full of amusement anymore but were still and steady -- disappeared through the front door with a swish of freezing air. Victoria's arms automatically wrapped around herself at the feeling, and she backed up further into the apartment to go back to its warmth. 

Steve was down on his hands and knees in front of a nearby closet, obviously searching for something, and Victoria wanted to go help him, but she was frozen -- both metaphorically and literally -- to the spot. She began to wonder if she were really any better at all, but before she could think about it any deeper, Steve straightened up, holding a black wool coat that seemed to be the most beautiful piece of clothing she had laid eyes on in days. 

"You're about my mom's size. You can borrow her coat." 

With a grateful smile, Victoria took the sweater, noting that someone had sewn the name _Sarah Rogers_ into the tag. Like her son, Sarah must not have been very tall. Fortunately neither was Victoria. She wrapped it around her shoulders and, sticking her arms through, saw that it fit perfectly. "I hope your mother doesn't mind that I'm wearing her coat," she said, biting her bottom lip as she wrapped the coat as tight around her as it would go. The cold didn't seem so bad anymore. 

Steve, however, with his jacket that looked like it could fall off any second, shrugged. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind. She was a nurse." 

"Was?" 

Now Steve wouldn't meet her eyes, fiddling with the buttons on his coat and seeming to stare at something over her shoulder. "She died last year. Tuberculosis." 

"I'm sorry," Victoria said quietly. She wanted to tell him all of her feelings -- feelings she thought they'd probably share -- about losing mothers before their time, but she kept her mouth shut. At least she understood the reason for the floral wallpaper now. 

"Don't be," he said with a small, crooked smile, even though it didn't make his eyes light up as it had done before. He appeared to be used to shaking off sentiments like that. "It's not your fault." 

Victoria wanted to ask about his father, but luckily Steve was already going on. "My dad died before I was born -- mustard gas. I'm hoping to be in the 107th infantry like he was," he said, pride evident in his voice. This was quite intriguing to her; she knew how many men and women were being sent away to fight in the war as soldiers and nurses, but she couldn't imagine how well scrawny little Steve would be able to do there. 

All of a sudden the blaring sound of a car horn make them both jump, and Bucky's far away voice called from outside. 

"Have you two gotten lost? The door's open, you know!" 

Steve smiled apologetically and stepped back, grabbing the door and holding it open for her. Victoria smiled at him gratefully, muttering her thanks and starting out the door. She hurried to the car, determined to get in it quickly so as to not have to spend any more time out in the snow than was absolutely necessary. 

She made her way cautiously down the steep, icy steps in front of Steve's apartment, gripping onto the rail probably a little too tight, aware of his presence right behind her. She saw Bucky waiting in the car, a shiny black Ford that looked like one of the most expensive automobiles Victoria had ever seen. 

It had been early morning when she had fled her apartment with Dominick; now it was almost sunset, the sky being a light orange. She vaguely remembered Bucky mentioning something about Christmas Eve -- of course, she had originally been planning to let the holiday pass without a second thought, but now that they had talked about it she felt like she should give the boys a thank-you gift for helping her before they parted ways. 

And now she knew where Steve lived… once she was settled into a new apartment with her brother, she would have to think of some way to repay them. Maybe she could cook dinner for them -- if Steve's mother had died, he probably wasn't the best cook… or perhaps she could do some chores for them... 

Thankfully Victoria made it to the ground without any trouble, the wind whipping her hair around her face, and was about to climb into the backseat when she saw Bucky reach over and push open the passenger side door through the tinted windows, a wicked grin lighting his face. 

"Get in here, doll," he told her before shooting a sly smirk at Steve, who had appeared beside her. "Sorry pal," Bucky called to his friend, "but you're just not as nice to look at." 

Victoria blushed. It was not often that a guy complimented her on her appearance. For his part, Steve seemed to agree enough; he got into the backseat without complaint while Victoria climbed into the passenger seat next to Bucky. As soon as she shut the door behind her, he slammed his foot on the gas and the car shot forward, leaving the rows of brick apartments behind. Victoria noted that they weren't very far away from Church Avenue, the place Steve had found her. 

At least he hadn't had to bring her far. She did know, though, that it was on the opposite side of Brooklyn from where she lived, and it hit her then just how far she must have run with Dominick. She also guessed that's why she'd only come across Steve once before. She didn't often go to this side of town. 

"So why were you on Church Avenue?" Victoria asked curiously. To her surprise, Bucky burst out laughing and Steve looked down with an embarrassed expression. Bucky glanced back at him and she noticed a sort of protectiveness in his eyes, which told her in a way that he must have thought of Steve more as a little brother than a friend. His rich laugh and Steve's reaction made her regret even asking the question at all. 

The little blond guy averted his eyes and fixated his gaze on something outside the window as they drove, his cheeks and neck still tinted pink. 

"I… had business in the area," he mumbled. Bucky rolled his eyes but turned his attention back to the road. 

Victoria thought back to the previous night when Steve had found her. There had been sounds of people slamming against the wall and the guy had come out of it all with a bruise under his eye… so he had gotten into a fight, but what for? 

"Oh," was all she said, glancing out her own window. 

"Steve has no concept of the idea of a losing battle," Bucky informed her out of the blue, meeting her eyes for a moment, and she thought he was teasing, but there was no humor in his gaze. He was being serious, then. His lips contorted into a tight smile, and she couldn't help but wonder what the deeper meaning of all this was. She felt as if she was stepping into an argument and they were dialing it down just for her. 

"Is this the orphanage?" Bucky's swift change of tone caught her off guard; she hadn't noticed that they were already on Church Avenue. A large house that had obviously been built decades ago stood on the street corner, a tall, black iron fence around it and its spires reaching up to the sky. In relation to the rest of the buildings on the street it appeared grand and daunting to Victoria, like those haunted mansions from stories or a vampire's castle. Or maybe she just thought that because they were keeping Dominick away from her inside it, so naturally her mind interpreted it as the dwelling of something as evil and brooding as Dracula. 

"Yes, it is," Victoria replied, although her answer and Bucky's question seemed pointless; a huge sign above them read _Brooklyn's Home for Orphaned Children_ in large letters and was also the only orphanage within fifty miles. Her heart began to race at the thought of seeing Dominick again and she was out of the car and on her way up to the door before even remembering Mrs. Rogers' coat. Turning back to the car, she shrugged it off her shoulders and was folding it to place it back in the passenger's seat when Steve was already rolling down his window and shaking his head at her. 

"Keep it," he told her. "It looks… very nice on you." 

And then his ears turned the color of the tomatoes in Mrs. Banner's garden. 

"Take care, doll," Bucky said, leaning to his right to flash her a grin that made her mind go blank for a moment. "And don't take any more naps in an alleyway, you hear?" 

Victoria felt pangs of disappointment when she realized that the guys weren't coming with her into the orphanage. Of course… there was absolutely no reason for them to stay with her. They had helped her and even driven her to where she wanted to go. She swallowed and tried to look confident as she thanked them one more time. 

"I promise I'll pay you back somehow," she said sincerely, but looking especially at Steve. "Thank you so much. You saved my life, you honestly did." 

"Anything I can do to help, ma'am," Steve replied, soft and kindly. Her heart melted at his answer and she smiled at him before sobering her expression. 

"If I ever see you again, please call me Victoria." With that, she turned her back to the vehicle and marched up the front steps of the orphanage to see her brother, refusing to think about where she would spend the night. She had one thought. 

_Dominick_ _._

\---

As soon as Victoria disappeared into the building, Steve leaned forward and turned to his friend, his tone pleading. "We can't just leave her there, Buck." 

Bucky shot a look at Steve into the rear-view mirror, his face stone serious. "We're not," he said, motioning to the passenger seat. "Get in." 

Steve was clearly shocked, but he did as he was told obediently, climbing into the seat the dark-haired girl had just left empty. Bucky looked at him as he pulled out of the driveway. 

"I have a plan," he explained. "I know Desmond has a place in downtown Brooklyn now. If I can't talk some sense into him, you pick a fight, got it?" 

He smiled wickedly and Steve smirked. His friend could really be confusing; sometimes he told him to go after someone, and sometimes he would say he couldn't leave him alone for more than fifteen minutes or he would pick a fight with the person who swatted at a fly. That was how it had always been; Steve started the fights, Bucky finished them. And it always threw Steve off when he went straight from being overly protective of him to proposing things like this, but he wasn't going to be upset about it now, especially since he had just given him permission to go at a man that seemed like an old crook. He simply grinned back brightly as Bucky sped along. 

They drove in silence for a few minutes, the air heavy with unspoken words, until Bucky demanded, "What the heck were you doing on Church Avenue, anyway?" 

Steve looked out the window and watched the buildings fly past, avoiding his best friend's gaze. "I was going to the cemetery," he said softly. With Bucky, there was no need to explain any more about why he had been going to the cemetery the previous night. "But then I saw these guys crowding around in an alley… when I got closer I saw that somebody was on the ground. They would have probably tried to rob her, or worse, so I stepped in. I guess they didn't really care enough to stick around long." 

When Bucky didn't reply right away, he added defensively, "What would you have done?" 

"The same thing," his friend admitted. "Still, you shoulda brought her to the hospital or something. Most gals don't appreciate waking up in a guy's apartment with no idea how they got there, even if you did save her life. Listen, if you were that desperate, you should have asked me for advice, pal! I think Connie's got a friend--" Now he was sounding like the old Bucky again. 

"Buck, stop," Steve said seriously. "It wasn't like that, and you know it. I would never do that to--" 

Bucky sighed dramatically, pretending to be disappointed. "I just worry about you, Steve. Someday you're gonna get caught up in something way over your head, and I'm not gonna be there to help." 

Steve's mind flashed to his mother's funeral last year, and his friend's declaration at his apartment afterward that he would always be there for him. He was grateful for the help, sure, but desperate to prove himself at the same time. "I can take care of myself, Buck." 

"I know you can, but some help is nice to have sometimes, isn't it?" 

Steve reluctantly nodded and Bucky clapped his shoulder as they started to get out of the car, having arrived at their destination. "Just keep that in mind," he said before Steve could open his door. But in a low voice, he added, "We'll go visit her soon. She was like a mom to me, too." 

Steve smiled at him, unable to put his gratitude into words. More often than not, if he weren’t fighting or at home, Bucky would find him at the cemetery next to his parents' graves. Neither boy ever commented on the frequent event, though Bucky would often bring food and they'd have a little picnic there, saying little but spending time together, nonetheless. Steve knew that he'd much rather be spending it with girls, going to the movies, or being with his family, but he still spent it with him, and it meant a lot. It really did. 

The two of them got out of the car and Steve took a look around. The building in front of them was of fair size and seemed as if it would fall in on itself any second because it was so old and rickety. He noticed a park behind it and a subway down the sidewalk and decided it wasn't such a bad area to live. A rusted sign swinging in the chilly wind above their heads read _Desmond's Apartments_. 

"How did you know this was here?" he asked Bucky, who smirked. 

"Dad says a lot of things when he thinks no one's paying attention," Bucky explained. "Good thing I was paying attention." 

As Steve and Bucky made their way up the sidewalk, they saw a group of men clustered around the side of the building, all carrying buckets and peering at something. When they got closer a space for them to see what they were doing cleared. Apparently someone had broken the window there and inside you could see that the apartment room was flooded. 

"What happened here?" Bucky asked authoritatively; he was good at taking charge when he wanted to, and none of the men even questioned the fact that he was at least twenty years younger than most of them. Steve tagged along behind him, already a little out of breath. What could he say? Bucky's strides were the equivalent of three of his own, and his friend walked _fast_. 

"Some idiot didn't replace the windows after the last storm and flooded the basement," one of the older guys told them, crossing his arms. "Now the entire foundation of the building is in trouble. Fortunately, I was able to get some help to fix it, but the rooms won't be inhabitable for months." 

"What about the previous tenants?" Bucky inquired, pretending to have no knowledge of the situation. "What happened to them?" 

"That's none of your business - Barnes, what are _you_ doing here?" Recognition dawned on Desmond's face as he glared at Bucky. "I evicted your family a decade ago. Must be nice living up in Brooklyn Heights, isn't it? Happy you won the lawsuit?" 

"Very," Bucky replied with a cocky pleasantness. While Desmond was clearly getting more and more worked up, he forced his face to remain calm. "But, if I recall correctly, it _is_ your obligation as the landlord to find somewhere for the tenants to stay in the meantime.” 

" _She_ put you up to this, didn't she? Well, you can tell her that I won't find anywhere for her to live until she pays for the repairs." 

"Why are you doing this?" Steve suddenly snapped, unable to contain himself any longer. He couldn't just _put up_ with blatant unkindness. "Why can't you help her?" 

"Because her good-for-nothing father couldn't pay the darn rent, and it was a mistake for me to let that family live there for a long as they did!" Desmond fired back. "I should have evicted them as soon as I learned they couldn't install new windows." 

"Then you should have installed them yourself!" Steve argued. "You own the building. If you _knew_ that was going to happen and you _knew_ they couldn't pay for it then-" 

They had crossed a line; perhaps long ago. Desmond took one step forward with a menacing expression, a hammer in his hand. "I suggest you both get out of here before I call the police. And tell your friend that if I get my hands on her again, she'll be _very_ sorry she crossed me." 

"Come _on_ , Steve," Bucky said in his ear, and forcibly dragged him away with a firm grip on his shoulder, knowing that if that went on for any longer it would soon get ugly. Some of the men watching laughed, which only made Steve that much angrier. 

"Well, that was a mistake," Bucky stated as he turned the ignition once they were inside the car. "I'd forgotten what a piece of work he is." 

Still glaring in the direction of the building, Steve murmured, "It was worth a try." He had calmed down somewhat, but his face was still tinged red. "I'm going to go to the police." 

"And what are they going to do?" Bucky asked in response, logical as always. "They're not going to waste their time on one landlord. Besides, imagine how well it would turn out for us if they decide he's right and demand the money from Victoria." 

"But there's gotta be _something_ we can do," Steve went on. He looked sideways at his friend. "I didn't know Desmond used to be your family's landlord." 

Bucky shrugged. "It's not something I advertise. We didn't always live in Brooklyn Heights. How d'you think I met you? I would have gone to some fancy private school instead of George Washington. Once my dad was able to prove that we were unfairly evicted, he took it to court and won us enough money to move to a nicer neighborhood." 

"Then maybe Victoria can do the same," Steve suggested, though Bucky shook his head. 

"They only took Dad's case because he had a family and we'd lived there for years. They'd never listen to her, no matter who she knows." 

There was silence again, until Steve spoke up. "Buck, you know, she has nowhere to go, and I have a spare bedroom…" He trailed off and hesitated, meeting Bucky's eyes, who grinned. 

"Are you asking my permission?" 

Steve sighed heavily. "No, of course not. I was asking your opinion on it. I wouldn't ask her to pay rent or anything - just until she finds somewhere else to stay." 

"I knew you'd do something like this, Rogers." Bucky smirked. "Hey, if you're living on your own with a girl, I'm not gonna tell anyone. She seems harmless enough, anyways." 

"Well," Steve breathed as he stared at a tree pass outside someone's house that was strung up with white lights. "It _is_ Christmas Eve." 

\---

The second Victoria entered the old orphanage she was met by a little boy no more than eight who slid down the rail of the staircase in front of her and ran into an empty room to her right, giggling madly. After he passed, all was silent, and she took this time to peer out the foggy window behind her, noting that Bucky's car was already gone. Gosh, she hadn't thanked them enough, had she? Guilt pangs suddenly hit her chest. How was she supposed to thank someone for saving her life? 

Before she could answer the question in her mind, a raven-haired woman came barreling down the stairs, obviously chasing the little boy who'd just ran off. 

"Adam!" she called frantically. Victoria simply pointed wordlessly in the direction of the room the boy had run into and the woman nodded gratefully. 

"Thank you," she said. "The reception desk is right this way, but I'm afraid you'll have to come back tomorrow. We closed an hour ago." 

Victoria's heart sank. "Please, this is important. I'm looking for my little brother. He was brought by mistake earlier--" 

"I'm sorry, I'm not authorized to help you or give you any information, I'm just a maid here… if you come back tomorrow I promise we can look into this situation for you. " 

She kept arguing. "I need to find my little brother. He was taken here just this morning, do you know where he is? His name is Dominick Hensley, he has red hair and green eyes," Victoria begged, not caring how desperate she sounded. All she wanted was to hold her brother again in her arms. 

"Ma'am, I cannot--" There was harshness injected in the woman's tone now, but she didn't get to finish her sentence before another woman interrupted her. 

"Victoria Hensley?" Victoria spun around to face an older woman staring at her, not exactly looking pleased to see her; Mrs. Banner. "What are you doing here?" 

"I'm trying to find Dominick," she said, and out of the corner of her eye she watched the maid disappear into the other room, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Please tell me what happened to him." 

"He was adopted not an hour after I brought him here," Mrs. Banner told her. Victoria's heart seemed to stop beating in horror. "Don't look so upset, dear. The man who took him was very kind and promised to take excellent care of him. He was asking about you, too, but I told him I had no idea where you were." 

"What was his name?" Victoria asked desperately. "Did he say where he lives?" 

"He said his name was Ivan. As for where he went, I have no clue. It was none of my business," Mrs. Banner said, looking at her strangely. "At least you're wearing a coat now. You still don't look so well, dear. I'll bring you to the hospital." 

"No, I don't need the hospital," Victoria insisted. "You don't understand -- I need _Dominick_." 

"Come with me," was all Mrs. Banner said while her heart was switching between anger and panic. Having no other choice, she grimly followed the woman back out into the cold air. 

"Are you sure there's nothing more you can tell me about them?" she asked as they stepped onto the snowy street. The scene was so much calmer and prettier than last night as the first of the stars began to appear in the sky, but Victoria was unable to appreciate it just then. 

"Not anymore than I already have," Mrs. Banner told her. "I understand your desperation to find your brother, but you really are in no position to look after him at the moment." 

"But he's my _brother_ \--" 

"Where would you live?" the older woman cut in. Victoria had no answer for her. She hated the knowing glint in Mrs. Banner's eyes, because as much as she did not want to admit it, she was right. 

"Try getting everything sorted out before searching for him," Mrs. Banner advised kindly. "Besides, I have much confidence that Dominick is being well taken care of." 

"How do you know?" 

"Ivan said he was your uncle.” 

Victoria stopped walking and stared in disbelief at her. _I don't have an uncle,_ she wanted to say, but part of her knew that wasn't true. She didn't have any family to stay with, but her mother had mentioned a brother once or twice in Victoria’s lifetime. She had just assumed that they weren't on good terms. She knew nothing about him, not even his name. So why was he in New York? How had he known to find Dominick at the orphanage, and why hadn't he shown himself before? Most importantly, where was he? 

"Ivan? His name is Ivan?" Victoria asked. That much was more than her mother had ever told her. 

Mrs. Banner nodded. "That's what he said -- I believe he was Russian. He looked exactly like your mother, with the same red hair and green eyes. He was her perfect twin; that's why I gave Dominick up so easily. But unfortunately, he didn't give me a contact address to reach him." 

Before Victoria could answer, a car pulled up beside them, its headlights illuminating the entire street. When the passenger door opened, she felt a strange mixture of the most excitement she'd ever felt and relief as Steve Rogers got out and walked over to her, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face, while Bucky Barnes got out of the driver's seat and also sauntered over to the three of them. 

"Hello, Victoria," Steve said, still smiling at her.

"Ma'am," he acknowledged Mrs. Banner. Victoria smiled back, noting that he'd heeded her request and used her name instead of calling her 'ma'am'. 

"Did you have any luck finding your brother?" 

She shook her head, disappointed. "Apparently he was adopted by my uncle, and I don't know where he is now. I'm a bit lost," she admitted. "What are you doing here?" 

"My dad would disown me if he found out I left his old friend's daughter alone with nowhere to go, on Christmas Eve, of all nights," Bucky interjected, grinning at her. Victoria got the feeling that it wasn't his only motive. 

"Actually, I came back to ask you… I know you have nowhere to go, and I wanted to say that you could stay at my place, if you want. Until you find somewhere else to live." Steve was stammering a bit. Clearly he wasn't used to asking women such things. "I have an extra room, and you wouldn't have to pay rent or anything." 

Looking at the two guys, illumined by the car headlights, she never wanted to hug anyone more in her life. If she had a place to stay, then she could get back on her feet, find a job, save up some money - get her life sorted out, as Mrs. Banner had said - and then look for her uncle and find her brother. Of course, that didn't stop her from searching for them sooner than that. 

"Dear, this is quite surprising," Mrs. Banner cut in, sounding unsure. "Who are these men?" 

"She's with us," Bucky replied for her, his voice ringing out clearly in the winter air. He met her eyes and gave her possibly the most genuine smile she'd seen from him yet. 

"Is this true, Miss Hensley?" Mrs. Banner adjusted her glasses and looked at her questioningly. 

And despite everything, for the first time since her mother died, Victoria felt something like the beginnings of hope. 

"Yes," she said in a sure voice. "Yes, it is." 


	4. Chapter 4

For as long as Victoria could remember, Christmas morning had alw ays been eerily silent. There had been no honking cars, shouting people, or loud car engines. The only sound that could be heard was the carolers that would go up and down the streets throughout the day. And this day \-- her first Christmas away from home -- was no exception.  As  Victoria lay wrapped tightly under the comforter on Sarah Rogers' bed, she could hear no  sound outside, save for the ringing of church bells in the distance. 

Despite Steve 's insistence that she could stay there as long as she needed, she still felt very helpless , to the point of having to starve on the streets or accept help, which she had. She felt like an intruder, nonetheless. After giving Mrs. Banner Steve's address in ca se  her  Uncle Ivan tried to find her, she had gotten into the car with Bucky and he had driven the two of them back to Steve's apartment, where she had crawled into bed and fallen into a deep and dreamless sleep in seconds. 

However, her anxiety had come rushing back as soon as her eyes opened. Staying in a near-stranger's house was one thing - though they had agreed to pretend to be cousins if anyone ever asked -  but not knowing whether Dominick was in good hands or not was another. Mrs. Banner seemed confi dent that Ivan was a decent man, but Victoria wondered if her mother's silence about him had been more telling than she knew. If they'd had a good relationship, why had she never told her any more about him?

She dragged her fingers through her tangled hair and swung her legs out of bed, her toes curling at the feeling of the cold wooden floor under them. She wandered over to the window next to the bed, fogging up the glass with her breath and drawing with her finger in it. She studied her reflection in the chilled clear glass; her  deep brown hair and freckled face with hazel-green eyes staring back at her. Victoria wore Mrs. Rogers' white nightgown, which, like the coat had , fit her nicely. Steve had told her that she was welcome to borrow any of Sarah's clothes , and sure enough, she had found basically an entire wardrobe of clothes left in the small closet. Which wasn't surprising . Steve wouldn't have known what to do with them all. Still, she knew she would have to buy some of her own clothes soon. She couldn't accept  _ everything _ Steve offered. He had been kind enough as it was.

As she gazed out the window, she noticed a black car pull up and a man dressed in a mil itary uniform step out. Victoria saw that he had an envelope in his right hand, and he walked up the stairs to one of the apartments across the street, knocking on the door. It was barely a few moment s before a young woman -- probably the same age as herself -- opened it, still dressed in her pajamas, as well , with a puzzled look . Soon after receiving the letter did her expression turn to one of hor ror and devastation and Victoria was sure of what was happening. She had to look away.

She couldn't help but feel a rush of relief that Dominick \-- the only boy she really cared about -- was much too young to be caught up in the war, and quickly scorned herself for the selfish thought. The soldiers in Europe weren't warm and cozy in their bedrooms right now, listening to church bells. How dare she feel lucky for not having to go through losing a soldier?

She made her way over to the closet and selected a deep  green  dress from inside, hoping it was festive e nough for the occasion. Victoria was just buttoning the collar when she realized that a burning smell was filling the room. Her mind automatically jumped to a fire - how cruelly ironic if her place to stay got flooded one day and then burned up the next - but when she dashed out of the bedroom and into the small kitchen she found Steve standing in front of the stove and holding a pan with black smoke billowing from it. 

She ran to the sink and, filling a glass up to the brim wi th water, dumped it over the burner . Orange flame s had already begun to lick the sides of the pan, though, and  as Steve jerked his hands away she saw that they were burned.

"Give me your hands," Victoria ordered, throwing away politeness for the moment. Her father had once stumbled into the fire after drinking too much, and while Steve's hands weren't nearly as bad as Bob's had been, she  still  knew how to take care of burns.  He didn't hesitate to obedie ntly hold them out to her. S he  took both of his wrists in hers - his bony fingertips dug into the palms of her hands - and held them under the faucet while leaning over to grab a cloth from the edge of the sink. She carefully wrapped them around his hands, binding them together like handcuffs.

"Does it hurt?" she asked him. Steve shrugged.

"I've had worse." Victoria narrowed her eyes.

"That doesn't answer my question," she said pointedly. She decided to change her wording and ask again. "Are you in pain?"

"Not really." She stared at him, knowing Steve was hiding his true discomfort, and he relented quie tly. "A  little . But it's nothing time won't fix."

"And honey," she added. "Do you have any around here?"

"Yeah, there's some in the cupboard," Steve replied. He was staring at her as if he  weren’t sure  what she was talking about, but tha nkfully he kept silent. Victoria strode across the kitchen and opened the cupboard. There were a few spices inside alongside scattered piles of dust, and she spotted a jar of half-used honey on the top shelf. She had to stand on her ti p toes to reach it, but finally she was able to knock it down and catch it before it hit the floor. She couldn't help but wonder how little Steve managed to reach anything up there. Maybe Bucky did it for him.

He watched her, his interest clearly peaked,  as she slid the jar across the small dining table to him. He had somehow gotten the cloth unwrapped from his hands  while she had her back turned  and she snatched it up, throwing it into the sink to be washed. Steve, the sweet guy, took the honey and  without any further questions began to rub it on his fingertips. "This  _ does _ work," he exclaimed, showing much more su rprise in his tone than Victoria thought was necessary.  "I'll have to remember that for next time."

She smiled at him, knowing that there would most certainly be a  _ next time _ . She'd only really known him for twenty-four hours and the man got into more scrapes than she had previously believed any normal human was capable of.  "And put some arnica on your bruises," she told him. "It'll make the swelling go down faster."

"Thanks," Steve replied sheepishly. He grinned at her, running his hands through the singed ends of his blond hair. "You know, my mom would have loved you. She was always going on about using natural remedies instead of medicine." He stopped, looking like a lost little boy staring up at his mother, but s napped out of it before Victoria could break the silence. "How'd you know  to use  honey? I never  woulda guessed that."

"I learned to be creative with natural fixes like this ever since I was young and we haven't had money for expensive medical stuff." She tried to keep a  straight face and not frown. "My dad would injure himself a lot and he was basically unable to take care of himself. My mom used to say that I should become a nurse, but…" Now it was her turn to trail off, no t entirely sure how to explain.

After Floyd's Dental closed down, she had plans to travel overseas and join a nurse training program sponsored by the Red Cross, but those plans had gotten put aside when her mom had gotten pregnant ag ai n, with Dominick . So , Victoria had stayed in New York to help her mother and protect her unborn brother from her father's drunken rages. Of course, that hadn't lasted long . Elena had d ied in childbirth, leaving Victoria to care for Dominick , practically on her own.  And then six months later, after one of his long nigh ts at the bar, she had found her father dead on the floor. Alcohol poisoning, the coroner had told her. It was no one's fault but his own.

"Well, I guess it just didn't work out," she finally said, even though her explanation seemed like more of an understatement .  _ Didn't _ _ work out _ wasn't exactly how she felt it should be worded. " But where there's a will, there's a way, right?"

Steve looked at her with something that looked almost like understanding in his eyes. "I believe it," he said, with more convi ction in his voice than Victoria was expecting. "The trouble is getting everyone else convinced of that."

She had the feeling that he was no longer talking about her, and she wondered if it had anything to do with his desire to become a soldier. But instead of asking, Victoria turned to the burnt pan and said, "I'm afraid to ask what you were trying to do besides see how hot the stove can get before you got hurt ."

Steve smiled at her and turned a little pink. "I was  _ trying _ to cook some bacon and eggs for breakfast, since it is Christmas, but it didn't quite turn out. Bucky's a much better cook than me."

"Well, I still think it’s edible," she said, peering int o the pan. Victori a wasn't entirely convinced of this, however, seeing that the eggs were much more brown than white and the bacon was barely more than black crisp s, but it had come to her attention that she was so hungry she would eat  _ anything _ . Steve had already lined up two plates on the stove and she divided the overdone food up equally before finally sitting down and attacking it.  Victoria  ate it so quickly that she couldn't even remember what it ta sted like, finishing her breakfast twice as fast as Steve. She realized only later that she must have looked like an absolute slob, but luckily her friend didn't seem to mind.

"I'm going over to Bucky's tonight for dinner," Steve said, slowly pushing what was left of his burned eggs around on his plate. "He said that you're welcome to come along, and that his dad would love to meet you, but I understand if you don't want to go…"

The thought that Steve would have actually let her stay at his apartment alone took her aback momentarily. His automatic trust made her feel unworthy of it. Perhaps something had been trying to actively  _ control _ her life rather than destroy it, because how else would she have been lucky enough to find Steve and Buck y at this perfect time? Victoria almost denied his offer without any more thought because she didn't want to intrude on the Barnes family, but the word "Yes," was out of her mouth before she could consider what she was saying. She liked Steve, she supposed she liked Bucky well enough, and the thought of eating an actual Christmas dinner with turkey and stuffing and gravy just made her mouth water.

"I would love to."

Steve's face broke out into a wide smile. "Great. You don't have to wear something fancy or anything.  We’ll leave around five."

Victoria nodded, although she made a mental note to at least take a bath before they left; she hadn't even gotten around t o brushing her hair yet this morning. "I promise to buy some new clothes once I save up a little money," she was sure she informed him. "I don't want to be taking advantage of your hospitality."

"And I promise you, you aren't."

Steve didn't elaborate on his comment, instead looking sadly at his empty plate of food. "That wasn't very good, was it?"

Victoria shrugged. "I didn't mind it," she answered truthfully.  She picked up both of their plates and was setting them down in the sink to be washed when Steve grabbed her wrist and gently turned her to face him.

"You really don't need to do anything around here unless you just can't stand the mess," he said softly, yet stern. "I can do all of this on my own, it's not a problem."

"Steve, you're letting a girl you barely know stay in your apartment wi thout paying any rent," Victoria told him, half amused and half upset. "The least I can do is help out here and there."

"Listen," Steve went on in a low voice. "I know what it feels like to have no one. I was almost in your position. After Mom died, I thought I would lose the apartment , until Bucky helped find me a job and paid the rent for a few months… I have a spare room and you have nowhere to go. I want… I want to do what Buck did for me. I wouldn't have been able to make it if it  weren’t for him. "

So this was the bottom of it; Steve was only helping her out of pity, and she was more disappointed than she really should have been.  Victoria glanced away from him. "Thank you."

Steve still smiled at her in a bright way that reminded her of the sun shining. "I'd better give you a key. I know I have one around here -- Bucky has one too. And in case you ever lose it, there's a spare under the brick by the front door."

She didn't know how to express her gratitude to him now, and immediately felt ashamed for being disappointed that  his kindness came from pity.  Victoria  was lucky to have anything -- any _ one _ \-- in light of  her  circumstances, and Steve was  that person. She really didn't deserve it if she was just going to complain about why he was so generous. Whether or not he did it because he felt sorry for her, she'd be lying in an alley,  _ dead  _ right now if it weren't for him.

"I'll see if I can find that key," Steve was saying, shaking her out of her thoughts, and no sooner did he disappear from her sight.  Victoria  curiously followed him out of the kitchen. "I think I left it in my room," he called from somewhere inside his bedroom. 

She stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure of where to be at the moment. She hadn't ever entered a guy's personal room before, though it didn't seem much different from hers save the fact that a tornado must have blown through it. Steve pulled the curtains back away from the window so that sunlight shone into the small room. Random papers, clothes, and  blankets were scattered everywhere, and he scattered them even more as he searched for the key.  Victoria  saw that a few of the papers had splatters of paint on them.

"Do you paint?" she asked, slowly daring to step forward to get a better look at them, but Steve had already shoved them out of his way so that she could no longer make out what was on them.

"Uh, yes," he replied quietly, and  Victoria  noticed the tips of his ears turn pink. "When I can afford it  – the paints were a Christmas present from Mom a few years back. But I prefer sketching. I've drawn for a couple of comics at a studio in Manhattan, the pay's not bad."

Victo ria, feeling braver, took another step into Steve's room. "Comic books, huh? You must be pretty talented."

"Nah, not really," he said. "I think the guy  at the studio  just feels sorry for me." He straightened up and, holding a  stack of his papers and handing them over to her. "Do you mind holding these for a minute? They're still a little wet and I don't want the paint to get smeared."

"Of course," Victori a said, reaching out her hands for them.  She took hold of the papers and when he turned away, admired them. They were paintings of different characters; some of cartoon animals, some of heroes. All of them were very detailed.

“I don’t think the guy at the studio feels bad for you,” she finally s aid as he shuffled around. “Thes e are really good.”

Steve seemed sheepish. “Well, thanks,” he managed. “It’s a little extra money, so… why not, you know?”

She nodded. “I understand. Which reminds me, I really should be looking for a job today…”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “ Oh c ome on, it’s Christmas! Just take a break for today. You can go out looking for a job tomorrow, but it’s a  _ holiday _ .”

Victoria tried to protest, but he refused to have any of it. “If you’re staying with me, then you have to follow my rules. I’ve  just  go t one, and it’s that Christmas will be spent celebrating, not with anything to do with work. ”

She smiled at his  fiery little comment, and decided his mind was set and there would be no arguing. “Okay,” she relented. “ It’s a deal, then. I can wait until tomorrow.”

He went on slowly. “Uh,  I think we should probably  get ready to  head over to Bucky’s soon. There’s not much else to do around here and he’ll be fine with us coming a little early. Maybe we can help with dinner; besides, it’ll be a better meal than anything I can cook up.”

Victoria nodded. “That sounds good. Should we bring something? I ’ll feel bad showing up empty-handed…”

Steve shook his head. “No, it’s okay.  Bucky’s family, well, they’re not like us. I mean, they  _ are _ like us,  there’s really not much difference,  except they don’t…  _ want _ for anything. I mean, not that I want for stuff, or even you, it’s just that—”

“They’re rich,” she aided him in conclusion, snickering.  He sighed and reluctantly nodded.  “I get it, Steve. But I could at least make some cookies or something, don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “If you want to. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”

\---

Victoria and Steve showed up at the Barnes’ residence about an hour before their scheduled meal – not too early, and not too late to get to know everyone before sitting down to eat. She was clutching a platter of chocolate chip cookies when they approached the door. It was opened before either of them could even knock.

“Steve, I’m disappointed, you’re late,” Bucky said.  Steve raised his eyebrows.

“You said not to come until five and it’s four,” he replied.

His friend shook his head. “Yeah, well, you should know by now that when I give you a time it means to come at least three hours before then.”

Victoria chuckled as the brunet ushered the two of them inside. Steve stepped over to the side, and she saw that  Bucky was looking at her strangely. 

“What?” she asked.

“Do you go by any nicknames?” was his random question.

“Um, well, not really, but just because no one’s ever called me any, except my mom. She called me  _ sunshine _ . But that’s all. Why do you ask?”

“Well, because I was going to wish you a merry Christmas, but I refuse to call you Victoria anymore. It sounds too formal.  _ Merry Christmas, Victoria _ ,” he mocked in an uptight tone . She smiled.

“Then you c an come up with one of your own, if you want. I don’t mind,” Victoria said. “Just not Vicki. I hate that nickname.”

“Hmm,” Bucky said thoughtfully. “How about Tori?”

She nodded decisively. “I like it.”

He smiled. “Tori it is, then.” And th en he turned his expression to a more faux- serious one and shook her hand. “Merry Christmas, Tori.”

Victoria laughed. “Merry Christmas.”

Then she was bombarded, all of a sudden, by an older ma n who pulled  her  into a firm-gripped hand-shake.

“James, why didn’t you come and tell us that our guests have already arrived?” Mr. Barnes chastised his son. She noted his use of the name ‘James’; she’d never thought about what his real name had to be , because it clearly wasn’t Bucky . Now she was curious as to where the nickname came from.

Victoria hurriedly recalled the pep-talk Steve had given her in regard to this family.

_ “Now, I want you to know that Bucky’s folks are real nice,” he had said. “His mom’s very sweet, but his dad can be… overwhelming. He’s very outgoing and straightforward. But they’re both good people. They practically raised me.” _

_ “I’m sure they’re fine,” she had assured him. _

Now she knew what he had been talking about. Bucky’s father was talkative and said exactly what was on his mind, but he wore a bright smile and Victoria automatically liked him.

“Hi, I’m Victoria,” she said.

“George Barnes,” he answered. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am.”

His wife was right behind him and introduced her own self softly just after he did. Then they called  upstairs for someone named Rebecca to come and meet her. When a smaller girl with Bucky’s same dark hair and light eyes came downstairs and locked eyes with Victoria, Bucky stepped over next to her.

“Tori, this is my baby sister, Becky,” he announced, looking at the girl softly. She instantly found it humorous that Bucky’s sister was named  _ Becky _ , of all names. Becky and Bucky. However, she held in her laughter, remembering that his parents call ed him James.  The nickname must  have been special to Steve. She still had to find out where it came from.

“Yeah, you r  _ baby _ sister, who’s almost seventeen,” Becky muttered.

“Hi,” Victoria said quietly, and Becky waved and smiled at her.

“Hey, nice to meet you,” she said warmly. Both the siblings were smiling at her. Then George joined them.

“We’re glad you could join us for dinner, Victoria,” he said.

“I brought these cookies,” she supplied in return, extending the small platter out to him. He eyed them with a pleased expression.

“They look delicious,” said Mr. Barnes. “I’ll give them to Winnie; she knows much more about what to do with the food than I do. And plus,” he whispered the last past. “she may have to keep me out of them so the rest of you can have some.”

Victoria laughed at his teasing comment and the parents disappeared into the kitchen to prepare the meal, instructing her to make herself at home with her new friends. She didn’t think it would be much of a problem for her to do that; being with these people already felt like  a family .

The  others sat in the living room,  waiting for Mrs. Barnes to announce that dinner was ready,  and she found herself  staring in wonder around the large house , exploring around in awe. It wasn’t a mansion, or anything, but it  felt like it to her, since it  was still much bigger than any house she’d ever been in. It had fancy archways, a large front door, and a grand staircase. Well, grand to  _ her _ , because she had grown up in a two-bedroom apartment , she figured. And yet the house still felt homely.

“It’s a nice place, huh?”

Victoria was startled from her thoughts when Bucky leaned over and asked her a question. She nodded, smoothing a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Yes,” she agreed. “I guess I’m just not used to a house being… this size . I grew up in a small apartment. Like Steve’s.”

He seemed to understand, crossing his arms and inhaling with a shrug. “Yeah, my parents have made off pretty well. Wasn’t my choice, but I’m not complaining, you know? But when I move out, I’ll probably stick with something  a lot  smaller.  No offense to mom and dad but f launting just really isn’t my style. Not when there’s so many people out there with nothing.”

She was taken aback by the kindness in his tone. And she felt the same way as he clearly did . Alt hough the two of the m had nothing against his parents,  she knew, for they were just trying to provide for their family in the way they knew how. Victoria also figured that it was either now or never to figure out the truth about Bucky’s nickname, in this one silent moment, because she’d rather not ask him during dinner. Curiosity was nagging at her heels.

“So, where did your nickname come from? I noticed your parents call you James.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Oh, you did? Huh.  Well, I guess you’ll just have to wonder, because I’m not telling you.”

She bit her lip. “Come on. Why don’t you want to tell me?”

He remained stubborn and  ambiguous . “I just don’t want to.”

“Tell you what?” Suddenly Steve entered their conversation, and Victoria  told him quickly, hoping to get the information from the blond since Bucky clearly wasn’t going to give anything to her.

“He won’t tell me why you call him Bucky.”

Steve smirked. “Oh, that’s because it’s from his middle name. He thinks it’s embarrassing and I’ve always messed with him about it.”

“It  _ is _ embarrassing!” Becky piped up, giggling. Bucky groaned.

“You guys aren’t going to tell her.”

Steve was indignant at the threat. “It’s—” Before he could even finish, though, Bucky’s hand covered his mouth and he was unable to tell her. That was when Victoria knew he meant business. He was glaring over at his sister in a playful but serious way, and she was smart not to try anything, unlike the smaller fair-haired guy. She did try to get around it, however.

“Can I just give her a hint? She probably won’t guess it.”

Bucky didn’t say no, so she did. “It’s after a president.”

Victoria racked her brain. Going through all the presidents she’d ever heard of, she couldn’t think of a single one that sounded remotely like ‘Bucky’.

Unfortunately for him, though, she had  excelled in history back in her school days and had the  U.S.  presidents up until that point memorized. She went through her mental list and it hit her suddenly. Victoria realized which president Bucky had to be named after.

_ President James Buchanan. _

“James Buchanan Barnes,” she spurted. “That’s your name. You were named after President James Buchanan.”

Bucky, surprisingly, didn’t seem angry at her. And rightfully so, she figured, because it wasn’t her fault. She only guessed because of Becky’s clue.  But instead, he looked  reluctant but accepting that she knew his middle name.

“Yeah, I was,” he admitted.

“Why are you embarrassed of it?” Victoria instantly asked,  sincerely  wondering herself. 

“It’s just… weird.  _ No one _ names their kid James Buchanan these days. I’ve never liked sharing it.”

“When we were kids, he used to  claim that his middle name was Robert,” Steve added, with a knowing smirk.

“Well, it was more normal -sounding than  _ Buchanan, _ ” Bucky defended himself. Victoria just smiled at their reminiscence, wishing she had good memories like theirs.


	5. Chapter 5

“So, your name is Victoria Hensley,” George said thoughtfully at the dinner table. “You must be Bob’s daughter, then.” 

“Yes, sir,” Victoria replied. “Buck – um, James told me how you knew my father… from the war.” 

“Bob was one of my closest friends for a long time,” the man agreed, taking a large bite of the ham the guests and family shared. “Until he… he just wasn’t the same, anymore. You know what I mean, don’t you? I’m sorry for bringing this up, miss. It must’ve been really hard for you and your mother.” 

“It was,” Victoria forced herself to say, even though she really wasn’t feeling up to talking about this just yet. She was convinced not to tell anyone here about her mother and brother’s fate, that she had lost her mother and had Dominick taken from her as a result. It was like ripping a bandage open after you’ve just placed it on. 

“The drinking… it got really out of hand. That’s how he died.” 

George shook his head. “My condolences. You know, the war does things to you. Those who don’t lose their lives on the battlefield and get to come back home are never really the same afterwards as before. I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t see everything your father did. I came out alright. Not everyone does.” 

She nodded solemnly, longing for this conversation about her dad to end, but he continued. 

“But, it’s every man’s duty to his country. Sacrifices have to be made in order for this war to be won. If every man that goes out to war dies or loses their sanity, so be it, as long as America prospers. Bob understood that.” George took a gulp from his glass, swallowed it, and sighed. “’Way I see it, every man has a responsibility to fight for his country. There are no excuses.” 

“Dad, can we not talk about this?” Bucky interrupted. She could tell that he was trying to be respectful about it, but there was a hint of annoyance and an almost unnoticeable amount of contempt in his tone. “It’s not the best time. Not here, please.” 

Victoria’s head snapped over to see Steve staring down at his plate, looking very deep in thought about something. His eyes were angled downward, at his food, though they were unfocused and grim looking. He clenched his jaw and seemed to be fighting not to speak up. Bucky appeared to be wary of this, and it was clearly why he stopped the conversation right there. She couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on between them. Could if have something to do with the fact of Steve’s desire to go to war? She felt that she might not have been the only one to feel like he shouldn’t go based on his size. 

George shrugged. “I’m just telling the truth.” 

Bucky looked irritated, like he was attempting to calm himself. “Well, please just change the subject to something more Christmas-appropriate, will you?” 

His father sniffed. “Fine.” 

It was at this moment when Winnie decided to enter the conversation, changing the topic to work, or the weather, or something. Victoria didn’t exactly know for sure, because everything after that was unconsciously blocked out. She spent the rest of that evening answering questions when asked, but mainly thinking about what could be going through Steve’s head at that moment, about the war. 

\--- 

After the meal, she cornered Bucky out on the balcony of the home, overlooking a large backyard and a starry night sky. She took this as her opportunity to question him, knowing that Steve had recently slipped into the bathroom. 

“So, what was that all about?” Victoria asked. “At dinner, with your father.” 

Bucky sighed heavily. “That man kills me. I was hoping that he wouldn’t bring it up, but of course he _had_ to. War stuff… it never goes down well with Steve. I’m sure he’s told you how much he wants to go; it’s his dream. But I’ve been trying to convince him not to. H e wouldn’t last two seconds out there , Tori . I don’t want him to do that to himself, but he’s not listening to me, and Dad’s speeches aren’t exactly helping. And he _knows_ what’s going on, but he doesn’t care. He still talks about it, like Steve isn’t even there. It’s like he’s doing it just to egg him on.” 

“…Oh. I get it.” Her face fell in realization of what was going on. “I’m sorry. I’ll, um, try to help wherever I can, to convince him not to do this. I imagine we’ll be talking a lot over the next while. And I agree with you. He shouldn’t go.” 

If anything, the blue eyes in front of her looked relieved. “Thanks. I’ll need all the help I can to get him not to do this. He’s dead set on going out there.” He lowered the volume of his voice, to add, “And I don’t know for sure, but I think he’s falsified his enlistment forms a couple times.” 

Victoria raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s _really_ not good. If he gets found out…” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “That’s Steve for you. No idea where he gets his stubbornness from.” 

She didn’t know how to reply except to smile softly, and soon his face became serious again. 

“The biggest problem for me is that I’ll be enlisting soon, myself. As soon I get things straight with work, and make sure everything’s taken care of, I’ll go. I have to. But Steve… once I’m gone, there won’t be anyone to stop him from coming after me. It’s really the only thing that has kept me from going already. I could have gone two years ago, but he needed me, and I managed to get Dad to believe I was working to save up some money, when I was really helping Steve out. He tries to prove that he can take care of himself, like with taking you in and all, but he really can’t.” 

Victoria decided to cut in, here. “Bucky, you… you shouldn’t put your life on hold just to help him like this. He’s not completely helpless; from what I’ve seen, he can manage well enough on his own.” 

Bucky scoffed. “Steve’s my best friend. We’re basically brothers. I know him; he can take care of himself, fine, but not when I’m gone. He doesn’t have a decent job and there’s only a certain kind of work he can do, physically. If I leave, nothing will stop him from finding a way into the war. And if he went, and didn’t… make it out, I’d feel like…” 

“It was on you,” she finished for him, meeting his gaze. “I understand. I – I wish there were some way I could help.” 

Bucky crossed his arms. “You can make Steve not such a stubborn punk. That’d help, a lot.” 

Victoria smirked, and was about to respond when the door to the balcony behind them opened and Steve peeked through. He joined them slowly, wearing his usual wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights expression. A moment of tension hung in the air before he spoke, and she felt complete dread at the possibility that he had just heard every word they said. 

“Am I… interrupting something?” 

Bucky cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head, releasing the nervous energy they’d shared. “Not at all, pal. Do me a favor. Hit the music.” 

Becky slid outside as well, following Steve, and stood out there with them, with her hands clasped together and a pleasant smile on her face. 

The little blond guy found the stereo behind them and managed to turn it on. Bucky smirked when a slow song Victoria didn’t recognize began to play. 

“Dance with me, doll,” he told her as he stretched out his hand toward her. She stared at him. 

“Oh, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea…” 

“Come on, it’s Christmas!” Bucky argued. “One dance.” 

“Don’t you have another girl, or something?” His reputation of being a hunk at school still hadn’t left her memory, so the question escaped her lips before she could stop it. He’d always had a girl on his arm there, she remembered. A different one every day, it felt like sometimes. And anyways, she’d never want to unknowingly intrude on a guy who was already with someone else. 

“Not here,” he told her coyly, a smile remaining on his lips. 

Victoria stuttered to reply. “Are you… flirting with me?” 

He shrugged. “Depends on if it’s working or not.” Bucky huffed at her hesitation. “Please? The song’s going to be over, soon.” 

She sighed and finally took his hand. He pulled her closer and the two of them started to sway to the rhythm of the music, in a light waltz. Victoria could hardly believe she was dancing with a guy she’d just met yesterday, but Bucky had this magnetic pull about him that made her feel welcome. She just trusted him, automatically. Behind them, she noticed that Steve had taken Rebecca and they were dancing with each other in the same fashion. She looked back up at the brunet, and saw he was smiling at her. Victoria returned the gesture quickly, before biting her lip and looking down. 

Bucky ended the dance by twirling her outward – she felt glad that he didn’t try to dip her or anything of the sort. Steve’s mother’s dress fanned out around her knees in a circular motion as she spun, and she released a soft laugh. Her dance partner smirked with content. 

“You know, that was fun. It was nice to have someone to dance with other than Becky.” 

“Hey!” his younger sister retorted. 

“Sorry, sis, but it’s true.” 

Victoria pursed her lips, and Steve audibly cleared his throat. 

“I, uh, think we should get going. It’s getting pretty late. Unless you want to stay a little longer, Victoria…” 

“No, it’s okay. I agree, we should go.” 

Bucky nodded in understanding and waved them off. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Tori.” 

“Yeah, I’m sure you will,” she replied quietly, turning and heading toward the door, with Steve stepping in to follow her. 

“Merry Christmas, again,” he called after them. She found one last smile, though she started to shy away at the same time. 

“Merry Christmas, Bucky.” 

\--- 

Victoria’s main goal over the next week or so was to find a new job. She honestly wanted to minimize the amount of time she sat idly at Steve’s apartment and actually start to provide for herself again. And perhaps more than anything, she wanted to help her new friend out with the rent, if she could. 

And, fortunately, she found one within a week. Victoria was going to work in the packaging department of a rather newly constructed factory that specialized in making and shipping first-aid supplies. The woman that was showing her how to do the job was named Mary. 

“All you really have to do here is make sure there’s one of everything in each kit, that they’re sanitized and that the container is closed tightly.” 

“Really? Well, this should be pretty straight-forward, then,” Victoria breathed, getting ready for the first line of products to be packaged to come down the assembly line. 

“I’ll ask you again when it’s moving at full speed and you’ve got a pile up,” Mary said in a teasing way. “It’s simple, but you have to do it quickly and efficiently.” 

She nodded and pulled on a pair of gloves as the woman showed her which items went where inside the small box. After a couple demonstrations, she felt like she had the hang of it, and began to get to work. Victoria was exhausted once a few hours had passed, astonished that such a mundane job had taken so much out of her. She supposed it was mostly because of how quickly she had to think and pack the supplies. Mary walked with her outside the factory and into a small break room, looking content. 

“Well, I think that’s enough to start you off with for your first day,” Mary told her. “You really got the hang of it. I think you’ll be great at this job. Too bad the pay’s not better than it is…” 

“Finding fair pay around here is almost impossible,” Victoria supplied with a matter-of-fact tone, desperate to keep her optimistic attitude about this job. 

“That’s pretty true, I guess,” Mary agreed. “But I’ll just be honest, this isn’t exactly my dream job. I want to be a nurse, but it just hasn’t worked out for me, yet.” 

“Really?” Victoria asked in wonder. “That’s funny, because I’ve always dreamed of being a nurse, ever since I was young.” 

“So have I,” the woman said, smiling softly. “You know, the Red Cross is still looking for volunteers. I heard that nurses are the most sought-after job right now, because they’re always short of them. I have half a mind to volunteer right now and ask you to come with me. It’d be more interesting than this little job.” 

“Oh? And what does the other half of your mind say?” Victoria asked, raising her eyebrow playfully. She noticed the longing in Mary’s eyes. 

“Well, my husband… he’s planning to enlist very soon, and he doesn’t want me coming with him. He says the war is for men and their wives are to be there when they return. But I just think I’ll worry after him so much that I won’t be able to handle myself while he’s gone. I don’t know.” 

She wasn’t quite sure if she could relate to that, so she didn’t really try hard to say something sympathetic for fear of being insensitive. Instead, she just looked down and bit her lip. 

“But what about you? You got a man to look after? Or are you still looking for one?” 

“Oh, um, well, not exactly, I mean – no. There’s no one. And… I’m not really looking, right now. I have to get my own life in order, first.” 

Victoria quietly hoped that Mary would get it and not ask, because she was still uncomfortable opening up about her life to people she barely knew. 

“I understand that,” her new friend said, luckily. “And good for you. If you decide you want a fella, though, I’ve got a stubborn one.” 

Victoria smiled. “Thanks for letting me know.” 

Mary smiled back at her. “Now, you get home and get some rest for your first full day tomorrow. You’ll need it. I’ll see you bright and early.” 

\--- 

She got back to Steve’s apartment a little earlier than he did, which gave her just enough time to bathe and change out of her works clothes before he got home. After spending a week with him, she had learned not to ask what he’d been up to that day. He had three answers: it was either that he was taking care of business, which was code for something she didn’t know yet, or doing a job for the comic studio, or that he didn’t want to talk about it. She took that last one to mean that he had tried to enlist once again and failed, though she never let on that she understood because he wasn’t supposed to know that Bucky had told her. 

When he walked in the door, she met him with a smile, which he returned slowly. 

“Hey, Victoria,” he said, closing the door behind him. “You get that job today?” 

“Yes, I did,” she replied pleasantly. “I think it’ll be a pretty good fit for now.” 

He nodded. “I’m glad.” 

Steve only stopped bustling around to stare at her weirdly once he finally noticed that she was just standing there, waiting. He cocked his head to the side. 

“Is there something you wanna… talk about?” 

Victoria sighed and rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. “It’s been killing me, Steve. It’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get a job and save up some money. I can’t stop thinking about him.” 

He furrowed his brow lightly. “…Dominick?” 

“Yes,” she said, exhaling. “I haven’t seen him in a week and a half, going on two weeks. I need to know if he’s alright.” 

“But to do that, you’d have to find your uncle, and you have no idea where he is. Do you?” 

Victoria nodded at him and before she could elaborate, his expression turned skeptical. 

“You already have this all worked out,” Steve guessed. “You’re just telling me about it to get me to help you.” 

She bit her lip. “I don’t mean to drag you into all this. Really, I don’t. But—” 

He waved this off, smirking. “Don’t worry about it. I live for getting myself in trouble and everyone else out of it. What do we have to do?” 

Victoria broke into a wide smile. “Well, um—” 

Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Steve looked over his shoulder to see who it could be. When he opened it, Bucky strode in. 

“Thought you two could use some of Mom’s apple pie,” he announced, carrying a paper bag into the living room. “She had extra, so she said I could drop by and bring this one to you two.” 

As they eyed it, he added, “It’s fresh.” 

Bucky shoved the bag forward and Steve took it gingerly. 

“Thanks, Buck,” he said. 

“Anytime,” he answered politely. “So, what are you up to today? Got any plans for the evening?” 

“Uh, no, not really,” Steve told him quickly, sheepishly. “The usual.” 

Bucky lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, I’ve known you for almost my whole life, Steve. I can tell when you’re lying, you’re horrible at it. ‘There a reason why you don’t want me to know what you’re up to tonight? Tori, do you know anything about this?” 

He was looking at her, now, and she forced her eyes onto his, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. 

“You know, you don’t have to always barge in on Steve’s business,” she said, attempting not to sound too rude. “He can take care of things himself, without your help all the time.” 

Steve beamed with gratitude at her, looking almost proud, but Bucky simply crossed his arms. 

“And I might believe that if he didn’t try to lie to me about what he’s doing. That in itself says that he’s planning on getting in trouble tonight. I know how my best friend works. And… _something_ tells me that this isn’t exactly _his_ trouble we’re talking about.” 

Victoria swallowed. He really did know how Steve worked. They’d been called out. But so help her, she was not going to ‘fess up to him about this. If he wanted to know what they were planning to do so badly, then she would make him figure it out himself. 

“So what if we have… stuff to do tonight? It doesn’t involve you,” Steve tried to argue. “Especially if it’s Victoria’s business.” 

“Is this about your brother?” he asked out of the blue. 

Victoria huffed. Bucky was good at one thing, at least – being nosy. 

“Yes,” she finally spat. “I just… I just want to find him.” 

“Your uncle took him, though, so have you figured out where he is?” Neither of them answered him, so he thought about it. “Oh, I see. You _don’t_ know where he is. And that’s the trouble part.” 

Both Steve and Victoria remained silent, which Bucky seemed to take as their confirmation. He sighed. 

“Well, it sure is a good thing I decided to show up. How were you planning to accomplish this without a getaway car?” Bucky shook his head. “You both got lucky. You should be glad that I’m willing to help with this.” 

Steve now seemed abhorrent to the idea. “Buck, come on. You don’t have to… we can—” 

“I’m coming with you, and that’s final,” the blond’s friend said with a stern, almost older-brother-like tone. 

Victoria wanted to be as upset at him as Steve was, but she just found herself feeling really grateful that Bucky was offering to help her find her brother. She figured that she felt this way because she was honestly starting to doubt her and Steve’s ability to do this by themselves. If they got caught… 

“But you might as well have a piece of pie before we go,” Bucky went on. “It’ll get cold.” 

\--- 

The three of them were riding in Bucky’s parent’s car. The night around them was pitch black, even though it was only around eight o’clock. Victoria inhaled a shaky breath, and Bucky moved his eyes off the road and over to her, smirking. 

“First time you’ve ever committed a crime, huh?” 

“It’s not… it’s not a crime,” she said defensively. “I just need an address.” 

“So you’re breaking into a secure facility and infiltrating private files.” Bucky shook his head. “There’s a better way to do this. There’s _gotta_ be…” 

“I’m open to suggestions,” Victoria told him hotly. His gaze became piercing as he turned it back to road, like he was thinking extremely hard about an alternative. However, she already knew that there wasn’t one. This was the only way; she had to be willing to do it, for her brother. 

“I thought you were coming to help us with this, not convince us not to do it,” Steve piped up from the backseat. 

“I was under the impression that making sure someone doesn’t get arrested fell under that category,” Bucky retorted. Steve crossed his arms. 

“She’s not going to get arrested. This isn’t the first time I’ve broken in somewhere.” 

“It’s not?” Bucky sounded genuinely shocked, looking at his friend in the rear-view mirror. Steve ignored this. 

“We have a plan. I’ll do the breaking in, Victoria will get in there and find the file, and you’ll wait with the car. We’re putting everything back so that we’re not stealing. This is just… getting information.” 

“ _Illegally_ ,” Bucky clarified once again, shaking his head. “You know, Steve, I used to think you were pretty decent at choosing friends.” 

Victoria crossed her arms angrily and slid down in her seat, ready to fire back and express the irritation bubbling up in her chest. “Well, I didn’t ask you both to—” 

“Kidding, doll. That was a joke,” Bucky told her, smiling a little. “You really could stand to lighten up. Look, there’s a reason I’m driving you both out here to do this, and it isn’t to convince you _not_ to do it. You’re both way too stubborn for that.” 

He pulled up to the facility within minutes, and Victoria rubbed her hands together, exhaling deeply. They had parked around the back of the building, hidden by the shadows. The social security place was closed for the evening, and she and Steve were planning to break into the rear of it, where the files were kept. 

“You guys have to get in and out, as quickly as possible,” Bucky said lowly. “I’m sure there’s some type of alarm system inside… because this is a _government_ agency, and all. I can only cover you guys so much.” 

Steve looked annoyed and got out of the car quickly. Victoria followed his lead. 

“We don’t need the commentary,” he muttered, closing the car door softly. “Come on,” he told her. The small blond led her through the dark lot and to the back of the building. She noticed that a dumpster was pushed against the wall before them, and that Steve was eyeing it closely. There were little windows up above it, barely visible but clearly leading right into the building. It was as if Victoria could see the plan forming in his head while it happened. 

Steve found a box and kicked it up closer to the dumpster so that he could hoist himself up onto the large, covered part of it. Soon he was standing up there and gestured for her to hastily follow him. She grabbed his hands and managed to pull herself up, as well. It was a good thing they were both light. One thing she noted was that, while Steve might not have excelled at physical things, he was good at climbing and fitting into small spaces. 

He took a small screwdriver out of his pocket and got to work on one of the windows above them. Once he managed to pop it open, he looked inside. 

“I can get in there, if you want. I’m small enough—” 

“So am I,” Victoria cut him off. “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. I know what I’m looking for.” 

Steve appeared a little disappointed to hear this, clearly having wanted to handle this for her, but she couldn’t let him do that. It wasn’t an ability thing, it was just logic. She knew what to look for; he didn’t. She had no desire to be shouting down to him what to find. So, she knew she had to do this. 

Victoria stuck her slender body through the opening, having seen that there was a filing cabinet just below the small window. She was able to maneuver through the space and prop herself up on the cabinet. She then lowered herself down onto the floor, now inside the dark office. She could hardly see much of anything, and couldn’t find her way around very well, so she quickly called up to Steve. 

“Can you throw me your flashlight?” 

She heard him fumbling for it, and soon the small device was tossed down to her. She caught it with ease, flipping it on immediately and starting her search. 

“Be careful,” Steve quietly called back to her. Victoria almost rolled her eyes but didn’t, focused on the task at hand. She began to look for any sign of what could possibly contain information about her uncle. The flashlight’s beam illuminated a certain drawer that caught her eye. It read R—S. She immediately advanced upon it, pulling it open as quickly as possible. She quickly scanned through the files, as they were all meticulously placed in strict alphabetical order, making it all the easier for her to locate the one she needed. 

After a few seconds of rummaging through the drawer, Victoria finally found it. The file she came for. _Romanov, Ivan._ Her mother’s maiden name was Romanov before marrying her father, so her brother’s name must be the same. This had to be it. She opened the file with haste, scanning its contents. 

_Known_ _Current_ _Address:_ _4578_ _Oak St._

_Occupation:_ _N/A_

_Known Living Relatives: None_

She furrowed her eyebrows. Why wasn’t she or Dominick on here? There was something up with this… the fact that his occupation was not on record worried her. 

Victoria hurriedly stuck the file back into its exact spot in the drawer, closing everything up just as it had been. She made absolutely sure that her presence there would be unnoticeable. Just as she stood, Steve called back down to her. 

“You almost done?” 

“Yeah. I’m coming, now.” 

She still had to figure out the best way out of here. She knew she had to get back out the window… hoisting herself back up onto the filing cabinet again was the only option. Victoria hoped she had enough arm strength to pull herself back up there. 

Luckily, she was right. She was just strong enough to make it. Once she crawled up onto the cabinet, she squeezed back through the small window and met Steve back on top of the dumpster outside. He immediately got back to work in screwing the window shut. They had to hurry now; they’d wasted enough time as it was. 

“Did you find what you needed?” 

“Yes. I did.” 

She was already making her way back down the ground, and as soon as the window was tightly back into its closed position, the two of them bolted back to the car. Victoria slid into the passenger seat, while Steve hopped into the back of the running vehicle. 

“This security system is really inadequate,” Bucky comments. “Not that I’m complaining, but you guys really should have never gotten away. This is a social _security_ place–” 

“Just _drive_!” Victoria exclaimed impatiently. “You sound disappointed.” 

Bucky immediately raced away from the building and started down the street. “Trust me, I’m not. I’ve done enough covering up for Steve for a lifetime.” 

“You’re not done yet, pal,” Steve murmured from the backseat. 

“Don’t remind me.” 

As they drove, Victoria felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest. They’d gone to the facility, she’d gotten the information she needed, and they’d gotten away with minimal trouble. Her worries were mostly gone, but she still felt nervous about going to the place, now. 

“You got an address, right?” 

“Oh, yes. It’s 4578 Oak Street,” Victoria replied to Bucky. “Do you know where that is?” 

He seemed to be thinking. “You know… I think I do. I’ve seen it before, and I know Oak Street. But…” 

“But what?” she asked quickly. 

“I know a house there, but I hope it’s not the one you’re talking about. It’s… well, kinda creepy.” 

Victoria raised her eyebrows. “Creepy?” 

She didn’t understand what he meant until they finally arrived at their destination. Before them stood a large house, seemingly at least two stories tall, with boarded windows and a looming presence. She stared at it and fear climbed up into her throat, thinking of Dominick. 

“Are you… sure this is the place?” 

“4578 Oak Street,” Bucky replied, nodding as they got out of the car and looked up at the house. 

Victoria swallowed. This place, with its high arches and very old-looking frame, was where her uncle was keeping her brother away from her. 

“Are you sure we should do this tonight?” Steve spoke up and suggested, shivering out in the cold night air. “We could always come back tomorrow, now that we know where it is.” 

She shook her head, and in a way shook off any doubt and worry about this. She had to do this, they’d come so far, already, to turn around and go back home. “I have to see him. I have to know he’s okay. And I have to get him back.” 

Bucky now seemed just as determined as she felt. “Good. Then we’re coming with you.” 

“Wait, you two don’t have to do—” 

“Yeah, we do,” Steve argued sharply, and Bucky jumped right into agreeing with his friend. 

“What, you think we’re just gonna let you walk into this creepy house all by yourself? I thought we were friends, now. This looks dangerous, so either we’re coming with you or you’re leaving.” 

Victoria huffed, knowing that she was indefinitely beaten and there was no use arguing any further. She had to be honest, too – she was glad that Steve and Bucky were coming with her. If anything happened inside, they’d be there to help. It was a relief knowing that she’d have at least a little familiarity with her while she ventured into the uncharted territory of her uncle that she knew nothing about. 

She inhaled and started up the steps, her brother’s well-being now becoming the only thing she cared about. 

\--- 

**New York, 201** **4**

Natasha noticed that Steve’s face was full of a lot of distinct emotions. She had gotten pretty good at reading him recently, and was able to note worry, hope, confusion, and a hint of fear in the way he looked at the door beside them. He’d only just flown up here to meet her this morning, so she clearly had some things to fill him in on. However, she knew that he would have never turned this down. 

“So, she’s…?” 

Natasha nodded. “They just thawed her out last night. Doc says she could wake up any moment, now. But I think seventy years of being frozen is a lot to shake off.” 

“Trust me, I know.” Steve shook his head. “I can’t believe this. First Bucky, now… I just, I never thought I’d see either of them again. And at this point, I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if she were just as bad off as…” 

Natasha pursed her lips and sighed. She really felt sympathetic for her friend, who had let go of so much, so many friends, just for them to be brought back to him and taunt him with the way things used to be. It _had_ to be hard on him, knowing what happened to Bucky and not being sure that this girl wasn’t the same way. 

“Everything seems to be fine with her. I mean, if she was brainwashed, too, they’d most likely still have her under their control.” 

“Like the Winter Soldier.” 

“Apparently not, though,” Natasha corrected him. “She’s still alive and untouched, which means whatever they were keeping her for must have failed. The only way to make sure she’s okay, though, is to talk to her. I figured you would want to be the first to see her when she comes around, especially since you know her.” 

“Thank you, Nat,” Steve told her with a serious glint in his eyes. “Really. I would never want her to wake up like I did. If anyone knows how to break the news to her, it’s me.” 

The redhead found a small smile. “Fossil to fossil, huh?” 

Steve rolled his eyes in the moment of light banter, but his face quickly turned serious as his eyes drifted back to the door beside them. “Can I…?” 

“Yeah,” Natasha replied, but she caught his arm as he moved to enter the room. “But, there’s something you need to know. She… Steve, I think she’s my aunt.” 

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, unable to find words for a minute. “Well, I didn’t expect you to say _that._ ” 

\--- 

When Victoria opened her eyes, she could only make out unfamiliar surroundings. Everything looked so strange and foreign. She was lying in a bed, covered by thin sheets and a plain brown blanket. She looked around for any sign of life around her, but all she could hear was the sound of voices on the other side of the door to the room she was in. It looked safe enough, though. Her heart started to pound, however, as she feared what could be waiting for her outside. This could all be fake, trying to make her feel safe but in reality, she could be tortured again – 

She had to stop her train of thought. This didn’t look anything like the lab she’d been kept in. This place looked completely different, in a way that made her nervous, but not afraid, per se. The room, as she studied it, was lightly colored, and didn’t contain much furniture. There was a window, though the blinds were tightly shut. If she listened closely, she could hear a faint sound, like a rushing outside, and occasional honking. Victoria figured this must be a big city, and she was hearing the cars passing outside. Though she wasn’t used to hearing so many at one time… 

She didn’t let this faze her. She knew she could have been transported anywhere in the world while she was in the cryofreeze, without her knowledge. Although that was what worried her. She didn’t see the machine that had been her home for the past long while anywhere in the room. In fact, she didn’t see anything that was recognizable to her in this room. She knew she had to escape, somehow, and figure out where she was. 

But all of these thoughts were left in the dust when the door opened and a figure stepped inside. 

Victoria didn’t try to hide the shock on her face when Steve was revealed to her. He closed the door behind him and slowly approached her. He wasn’t smiling, and instead looked concerned. He wore a white shirt, jeans, and a brown leather jacket pulled over it. 

“Hey,” he said quietly, when they were both quiet for a moment. His blue eyes sparkled at her, the same as always. 

“ _Steve_? What are you doing here? What… what happened? Where are we?” 

He raised his hands a little and motioned for her to slow down. “I know you have a lot of questions, and I can answer them all, I hope. But just take it slow for now, okay? It’s not good for you to try to process this all so quickly.” 

As Steve sat down gently on the edge of the bed next to her, she attempted to calm herself by steadying her breathing rate, but her body was still very tense and rigid with uncertainty. 

He seemed very aware of how upset and fearful she was and tried to comfort her. “To start off with, you’re not in Switzerland anymore. This is New York.” 

Victoria furrowed her eyebrows. “What is this place, then? It’s not… not a lab?” 

Steve shook his head. “No, this a safe building. It’s a SHIELD facility.” 

“How did you find me?” 

“I, well, it wasn’t really me. It was some friends of mine. But they called me right after they found you and I came as soon as I could to see you.” 

He must’ve seen the terror and perplexity that resided in her expression, because he went on softly and in his best sympathetic tone. “Victoria, you’re safe. I’m here, now, and I’m going to make sure that no one hurts you ever again. HYDRA and Zola are gone, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You’re going to be fine. I’m not going anywhere.” 

“I—I don’t understand. What happened?” 

Steve took his time to reply. He appeared to be choosing the right words to say to her. “Well… this world has changed a lot, Tori. It’s not the same as it was.” 

“As it _was_? Was… when?” Her friend was still hesitant to come out with it, so she went on. “Steve, how long have I been frozen?” 

He stammered, and she immediately knew she was right to ask that question. “Listen, I’m going to tell you but first you have to know that you’re okay. It’s… all going to be okay. Victoria, it’s… it’s the year two-thousand-fourteen. You’ve been frozen for over seventy years.” 

Victoria’s eyes widened and her heart raced even faster. “Seventy…?” 

She couldn’t finish her sentence and Steve nodded reluctantly. His face was full of worry for her, and yet there was some relief in his eyes, too. She didn’t know what to do. He had been right when he said that it was wrong to try and process this quickly. 

Steve solved this for her by allowing her to get closer to him and wrap her arms around his large body. He hugged her back as she pressed her cheek into his shoulder, letting the tears flow out of her eyes. 

“I… never thought I’d see you again,” Victoria whispered. 

Steve smiled softly, though she couldn’t see his face, and hugged her tighter. 

“I guess we were both wrong.” 


	6. Chapter 6

The three of them entered the gloomy house after knocking a few times, and Victoria was taken aback to see that they were met by a woman in an apron. She assumed that this was the maid of the house.

“Hello, let me take your coats,” she said softly.

Victoria wasn’t the only one that was ref using to accept help from the woman. She shied away from her outstretched hand.

“Um, I’m sorry, we’re here to see an Ivan Romanov,” she told her. “He’s my uncle.”

“Of course,” the maid purred coolly. “Mr. Romanov informed me of your arrival a few minutes ago. He’s been expecting you, and your brother is upstairs if you want to see him.”

Victoria spared a glance in Steve and Bucky’s direction, as they were right behind her, backing her up. Steve merely shrugged while his best friend motioned her up the staircase in front of them , raising his eyebrows expectantly . She felt confused at this woman’s reaction to her arrival. She had expected to fight to get her brother back – she didn’t think they would just give him to her.

And the fact that uncle had been expecting her didn’t make her feel any better about it, either.

But Victoria came for Dominick, so she immediately began to ascend the stairs, knowing that Steve and Bucky were  still  following her, and that the caretaker was also accompanying them. She really wasn’t paying any mind to this, because as soon as she reached the second floor, a large sitting room was waiting for her, and a man stood in the center of it. But to the left sat a white crib, which caught her attention and she quickly approached it.

T here little Dominick sat inside  the crib , sucking on his fingers calmly, as usual.

Victoria sniffed and tried to blink back the tears that rushed to her eyes. This little one had worried her so much over the past week. And here he was, not a care in the world, the same as he’d always been. His clothes looked different, but his crazy strawberry hair was even styled in the same way she had usually tried to brush it. She immediately scooped him up into her arms and vowed right then and there that she would never let him go again.

“Hello, Victoria. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Her attention swiftly snapped up and she was finally able to tear her eyes off of Dominick for a moment. Victoria studied the man on the other side of the dark room, illuminated only by the lit fireplace beside them.

“…Uncle Ivan?”

He smiled softly, and  she noticed that he had her mother’s red hair and bright eyes that had been passed down to her brother and her. He really did resemble h is sister . “ Yes,  I am your uncle. I regret that we haven’t met before now .”

Victoria automatically put her defensive walls in place, reminding herself of how little she actually knew about this man. Not even the social security  place had any information other than an address.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know you even…  _ existed _ , until I heard you had Dominick,” she told him slowly. “My mother never talked about you.”

“I see,” Uncle Ivan replied. “Well, I’m sorry to have to break it to you in this way, but my life has to remain completely confidential.  I may have to ask for them to…”

“They stay,” Victoria interjected quickly, motioning behind her to Steve and Bucky, who  c a me a bit closer to her. “ If you’re going to tell  me something , you’ll have to tell them, too. You can trust them , they’re my friends .”

Ivan just smiled at her. “I believe you, Victoria.  You’re just like your mother, stubborn and loyal to a fault . It doesn’t matter who hears this as long as I have your word  that you won’t repeat it to anyone.”

“I promise,” she said quickly, but with an assuring tone.

“ And , so do we, I guess, ” Bucky added in his friend’s place , though they both seemed relatively confused and curious . It was like their expressions mirrored Victoria’s feelings, and her uncle inhaled, preparing for his explanation.

“ I work for an organization called the SSR, the Strategic Scientific Reserve. It’s … well, it’s a  very  secret organization. We work closely with the war  to prevent  the work of … I’ll describe it as evil, for now.  I’m afraid to give out too many details, tonight. But there are things, many convoluted things going on, intertwined with this war that  we are working to put an end to. ”

She thought about this and tried to process it carefully, with a grain of salt. “So, what do you do, then, that’s so confidential?”

Ivan seemed pensive and unperturbed. “ Well, I’m a spy, for lack of a better term.  I am undercover here in Brooklyn , as an inheritor of a great fortune, which isn’t entirely false. However, I complete missions for the SSR, most of which’s goal is to gain information for the reserve. I’m afraid it’s all very confidential and I’ ve sworn to keep it all a secret, even from those I trust the most. It’s nothing personal. And I’m sure you must have pieced this much together from your little trip to the social security office.”

Victoria felt herself turn a bit red with guilt but her uncle waved this off.

“It’s alright. How else were you going to find me?”

“Well, why didn’t you just bring Dominick to me yourself?”

Ivan’s eyes twinkled in the dim lighting. “Because of this very reason. I knew you’d seek me out in order to find him.”

“I didn’t just come to find him,” Victoria told him with a sudden, stern tone of voice.  She shifted her brother in her arms.  “I came to take  Dominick back with me. I have to take care of him.”

The man now looked disappointed. “I had hoped you wouldn’t say that, but I knew you probably would. And I won’t force you to leave him with me – you’re free to take him.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, and Steve spoke up for the first time so far.

“Why wouldn’t she be free to take him?”

Uncle Ivan smirked. “Because I plan to offer to keep him. It’s purely for your own good, Victoria.”

“How does taking my brother from me do me any good?”

He seemed prepared to answer this. “ Mrs. Banner told me of your financial situation. I know how you lost your mother and your father so recently. That’s why I took Dominick as soon as I found him in the orphanage. I have to admit, you are in no position to properly care for yourself, much less an infant.”

“I can do it,” Victoria argued stubbornly. “ I’ve done it for this long. He’ll be fine with me .”

“Just hear me out,” Ivan went on. “I know you don’t trust me at all.  But you should think of what’s best for Dominick, here. In my care, he will be provided for by the best nurse I have, Marie, whom you met when you arrived. I’ll personally make sure that he is bathed and fed and well cared for. I am not short on funds, as you can see. Just let him stay here with me for a few months or so, until you get your life straightened out.  Get a nice place to live, save up some money, whatever you need to do to be ready to care for your brother. And until then, you can come visit Dominick anytime you like , I promise. ”

Her brother made a little unin telligible baby noise at the sound of his own name, and Victoria felt entirely torn. Her uncle was right, she did want the best for him, but did she really come all the way here just to leave her brother in his care? It didn’t seem right, and yet Ivan had a point. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was  in no  position to start providing for Dominick again. She could barely manage it to begin with, and that was when she had her own apartment, before it flooded. Victoria decided she didn’t want to put this much more on Steve. She couldn’t. He’d been too kind already; he never asked for a baby on top of it all.

But was she supposed to surrender her little brother to a man she barely knew, who was affiliated as a spy to some secretive agency she also knew nothing of? It was all very sketchy and nerve-wracking to her. She was what was best for her brother. He needed his family, his sister, no matter what the cost.

All she could think of was Dominick. He seemed fine . P erfectly healthy , even. She thought of that night when she tried to get him into the homeless shelter and they’d both almost died.

Victoria had to be honest. She failed so far in taking care of her brother.  And Ivan did have just as much of a right to him as she did, as an adult relative…

“Alright,” she finally relented. “You can keep him. But just until I get into a more stable position with  where I live .  I’ll take him back as soon as I get my own place. And I’m going to come see him at least a few times a week, to make sure he’s okay.”

“I’m sure you will,” Ivan told her, smiling widely. “I’m glad you made this decision; it really is the best for Dominick. You can trust me , Victoria .”

“I hope so.”

Victoria didn’t leave that night until Steve and Bucky had gotten their two-cents in, and she had made sure that her uncle knew everything there was to know about how to take care of Dominick.

“Carrots are his favorite,” she said on the way out the door.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Marie promised her. She looked down at the child in her arms that she had been unwilling to let go of thus far. Victoria pressed a light kiss to the top of his head and  finally  handed him to the nurse before slipping outside into the freezing night.

\---

“Do you think you made the right decision, about your brother?” Steve finally asked her the next day, after she returned from work. Victoria was truthfully exhausted from the late night and starving for the small dinner they were getting ready. 

“I really hope I did,” she responded quietly. “ I mean, I don’t know him at all, but he seemed to  want the best for  Dominick . I guess if he didn’t at all, he wouldn’t even be concerned about my ability to take care of him . Besides, what could he do with a baby? It’s not like I’m leaving a weapon in his hands.”

“Well, if it’s about the apartment, I don’t know much about  kid s, but I’m sure we could… make it work. If you wanted to.”

Victoria smiled at his thoughtfulness but shook her head. “It’s okay, Steve , really.  You’ve been nice enough to me already.  You don’t have to do that.  B abies need a lot of extra things, and money would be a lot tighter than it already is. I couldn’t put that on you. I’m not going to stay here forever, anyways.  I’m going to get him back as soon as I can.”

Steve looked down and she could have sworn that he seemed the slightest bit disappointed to hear this. “Right. Sure. I get that.”

She almost wanted to make him feel better about it, that she wasn’t trying to undermine his kindness or anything, but she decided against it, because he needed to understand how she felt about this. She wasn’t going to milk  his support for any longer than she absolutely needed to. She had to get out on her own sooner or later.

Soon, a month had passed and gone. It was February, and Victoria marked the day that she had gotten her job exactly a month ago. Her savings were just barely starting to stack up, and she still didn’t have much of her own. However, she did manage to buy a couple new outfits with the money she managed to save up so that she wouldn’t have to keep wearing Steve’s late mother’s clothes. She noticed that now the rent was being paid more easily than it had previously been managed . Things weren’t quite as tight financially.

It was a very good step toward getting Dominick back.

“Hey.” Mary approached her th at afternoon during their shared lunch break, looking much more pleasant than usual.

“Well, you look excited about something. Did you find out that you’re an heiress to a secret fortune, or something?” Victoria asked with soft sarcasm. Mary simply grinned.

“ Unfortunately not,” she replied grimly, before perking back up. “But, I did come across a few nursing books. Joe finally bought them for me for my birthday last week.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Victoria mused, happy for her friend. “Now you have no excuse to stay at this lousy job.”

“You’ve got that right,” Mary agreed smugly. “And since  my husband finally decided he supports my wanting to be a nurse, it makes it all the better.”

“So, you’ll be off to volunteer soon, then? Any idea when?”

“Well, actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” her friend admitted slowly. “I wanted to ask you to help me. We can study the curriculum together, and come summertime, we can both volunteer.  I know you wanted to be a nurse, and what better way to prepare yourself for it than to study these books with me?”

Victoria raised her eyebrows, caught off guard by this request without prior warning. “Well, Mary, I… I don’t know if I could do that. I’d like to, but I’m really not in the right place right now. To be honest, money’s very short with me, and I don’t even have my own  apartment . I have a little brother to take care of, and I just… I don’t know.”

Mary seemed sympathetic to her reservations, but still excited and persistent.

“Then how about this… you study with me, we’ll both save up until the summer to have something to come back to, and then by the time it comes, you make your decision about volunteering with me. Deal?”

Victoria sighed. “I don’t know… I guess I’ll try that. I’d like to help you study, anyways , no matter what I decide .”

Her friend looked elated, now. “Great! It’s a plan, then. We’ll start tomorrow night, if that’s okay with you.”

\---

Steve returned to the apartment that evening to  find Victoria mostly done with their small dinner of a little pot of lima beans , a couple pieces of cornbread and some chicken breasts. It was , all in all , a typical meal and filling enough for the night. He took off his coat and approached the stove curiously. Victoria noticed that he made a face at the sight of the beans  she was stirring , to which she smiled a bit.

“I’m sorry, I know you don’t really like them, but they were the only thing I could find to make with this,” she explained.  “ I tried to season them so that they taste okay.  And they’re good for you, anyways.”

Steve rolled his eyes with a small smirk.  “I’ll eat them, I guess. Thanks for dinner.”

Victoria was glad that he had finally gotten over being prideful of the fact that she didn’t need to do anything around his place. She knew that, pretty much, but she  _ wanted _ to. 

Now, this was the time she usually made conversation with him by asking how his day went. “So, how was your day?” she casually inquired.

Steve just shrugged. “I took care of some… business today.”

Victoria was getting two plates ready with an equal serving of each dish for their complete meal, though she made sure she didn’t  give  him quite as much lima beans. As she did this, she furrowed her brow at him. 

“I don’t want to  impose on anything personal, but could you maybe give me some more details this time?” She smiled softly at her own comment, meeting eyes with him. “You know, I’ve shown a lot of restraint by not asking, so far.  I understand if you don’t feel comfortable telling me, but it’s been over a month, now. You can tell me about it, if you want.”

He pursed his lips o bstina tely and it worried her. He really wasn’t going to willingly tell her. This was the first time he’d described his day as  _ taking care of business _ in about three weeks,  and she feared for him  because of what she assumed he  meant  by it. It would explain why he seemed so secretive.  Why he never elaborated.

Well, she figured it was about time to confront him tonight, for his own good.

Steve shook his head as she handed him his plate and they started to sit down. “I just don’t want to talk about it. No offense or anything, but it’s really none of your business.”

Victoria pondered what could be the best way to go about this. He _ had _ to have gone and falsified another enlistment. But how would she tell him that? If she brought Bucky into this,  Steve would never trust her again and she would  suddenly  be the bad guy. She just wanted to help him, that wa s all. So, she figured she would go slow and be as soft and considerate as possible.

“ Okay, I understand that,” she told him. “I just want to help. I’m  kinda concerned about you, to be honest.”

“Well, don’t be,” Steve snapped. “I’m sick and tired of you and Bucky treating me like I’m some weak little kid. I’m not. I can handle my own problems . In fact, I’m a  _ man _ , and I don’t need—”

He didn’t finish aloud, but Victoria did in her head. He didn’t need help from a woman. He didn’t need her pity. She pressed her lips together lightly  and looked down at her food. She took a little bite of the beans and didn’t even manage to swallow it before Steve spoke back up again.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a jerk. I know you have good intentions, really, I just get fed up with people, especially Bucky, worrying over everything I do.  It’s really not his problem, or yours, or anyone else’s but mine.”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly, taking another bite of food. The situation was really narrowing down now, leaving her one option  remaining if she wanted to get this out of him. Victoria didn’t say anything further until they were almost finished with their dinner.

“ Steve.” She  got his attention  before coming right out with it. “Have you be en lying on your  enlistment forms?”

He stared at her and she knew that she’d caught him. Steve’s mouth gaped and he seemed at a loss. “Where’d you get that idea from?” he asked, trying to blow it off as a stupid suggestion, but Victoria saw right through him. Then his brow relaxed with recognition. He must have known there was no getting out of this one.

“ _ Bucky _ ,” he hissed as if he was cursing. “I  _ knew _ he was suspicious. Of course he would tell you to keep your eye on me.”

She quickly held up her hands to slow him down with her gesture. “Hold on. He didn’t tell me to keep an eye on you.”

“Then what did he tell you to do? Stop me? Because—”

“He just told me that he’s worried about you. He doesn’t want you to get in trouble, Steve, and neither do I. ” 

Steve’s expression visibly softened a little, but he still remained very irritated with both her and Bucky. He dropped his fork with clear frustration, leaning back in his chair to cross his arms at her. “ You don’t have to be on his side, you know. You just moved in here, Victoria. I didn’t ask you to become overprotective of me like he is.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “I know that. And Bucky didn’t, either. I just… am. Because I really like you. You would say we’re friends, right?”

“Yeah…” he admitted quietly. “But—”

“ _ But  _ would you let me go on breaking the law if you knew it was dangerous and I could easily go to prison for it?”

Steve opened his mouth to reply but then closed it just as soon, thinking about her question.

“But… this is different.”

She was quick to retort with her own question. “How is it different?”

“Because… I can take care of myself.”

“And I can’t?”

He shook his head immediately. “No, that’s not… not what I meant to say. I just meant that…”

“What? What’s the difference between me wanting to keep you out of serious trouble and you  understanding that and  doing the same for me? I don’t see how—”

“It’s my duty.”

Victoria fell silent after hearing this.  Actually she had no clue how to respond.  She hadn’t known he  felt this strongly about enlisting. Fortunately, Steve didn’t wait for her to speak.

“ Sometimes I feel like everyone around me thinks I don’t realize how…  small , and weak I am. But really, no one knows it better than me. I  just don’t think I should  have an excuse at this point. All my life this has been my dream. To go out and fight for the freedoms I’ve gotten to enjoy. My physical ability can’t be a way out, this time.”

She  narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head slightly. “ So, you’d risk going to prison in order to do that?”

Steve looked smug. “I haven’t been caught so far.”

“This isn’t funny!” Victoria chided him hastily. “ Steve, this is serious.  I’m not kidding, you can really get into trouble for doing this…”

“I know .” He made sure she knew.

“Well, how many times have you done it, exactly? How many different names did you go under?”

Steve turned sheepish and wouldn’t meet her eye. He never answered, and she sighed, rubbing her forehead with exasperation. 

“Let me get this straight. You, Steve Rogers, are willing to risk your freedom and break the law in order to join the army, a choice which you very well know endangers your life and doesn’t leave a large chance of you living a long life. Does that cover it? I just – I can’t believe you…”

It infuriated her that much more when he even had the audacity to smirk at her.

“I’d much rather  die out there, doing something, than live here doing nothing.”

Victoria moaned.  It was a short statement, but it made perfect sense, and represented his logic exactly.  “Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

Their deal eventually boiled down to her trying her best to help him get into the war without falsifying any more forms. Steve finally agreed, reluctantly, but it was something. When she related the situation to Bucky the next time they found themselves alone together for a rare moment , he seemed proud.

“Well, that’s more than I ever managed to get out of him,” he told her. “Maybe he just needed a woman’s persuasion.”

Victoria blushed. “It was nothing.”

“Nothing? I don’t believe that.  _ Nothing _ is not caring at all.” Bucky fixed his gaze on her. “You like him, don’t you?”

She looked down. “He’s a good friend, I can already tell. ”

He nodded. “ He ’s more than that . ”

\---

** SHIELD Facility, 2014 **

Finally, Victoria asked to head back to sleep, and Steve had no desire to keep her awake any longer than she needed to be , so he quickly let her  lie back down  and slid out of the room.  He found Natasha sitting just outside the door with her chin resting on her fist, looking up at him.

“So… how’d it go?” she asked softly. Steve shrugged.

“As good as it could have gone, I guess,” he replied. “ I just feel like I’ve be en reliving the past , recently.  I finally thought that I was doing it, moving forward… and then  all of  this happens and I’m  back in the forties again.”

Natasha seemed  to want to comfort him. “Why do you want to move on so badly?”

Steve furrowed his brow. “Do you think that I… shouldn’t?”

“Well, you don’t really have to. The past made you who you are, Steve. It’s your life. Just because you’re in a different time  now  doesn’t mean that you have to forget the way things used to be .  No one expects you to just be able to jump  right into the twenty-first century. Sometimes, I think the world could use a little old-timey-ness. And I think it would do you good to remember  your old life, because it’s not old to you. It’s still pretty relevant, I’d say, especially now. ”

He found a tiny smile and she reflected it. Then he stammered to find an adequate answer.

“ I  gotta say, that’s… that’s pretty good advice.”

Natasha smirked and then crossed her arms with a serious look on her face. “So, you’ll be leaving soon?”

“No . I planned on leaving, but then I told Victoria that I wasn’t going anywhere, so I should keep my promise, I guess, ” he explained slowly. “And  I really don’t want to leave . Not now .  I... just want to be here for her.”

“Just as much as you wished someone was there for you,” Natasha supplied. Steve shrugged  again, before finally nodding. Then, he changed the subject.

“Also, if and when you get a chance to talk to her… I need you to promise me something.  “

The ex-assassin cocked an eyebrow at him. “As in… a serious promise?”

Steve nodded slowly. “ You can’t tell her about… about Bucky. I don’t want her to know that he’s still…”

“She was his friend, too? Of course she was.”

He snorted and there was a light in his eyes that almost seemed humorous, but not quite. “Oh, she was more than that to him.”

“So, they were…?”

He didn’t explicitly answer this and Natasha knew immediately that her suspicions were well-founded. “She can’t know,” Steve went on with a warning tone. “If she finds out, she’ll go after him. I know she will.”

Part of her wanted to ask how he knew this for certain, but she didn’t want to pry, as he was clearly bothered by this. So, Natasha just nodded.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t find out about him from me or anyone else,” she told him with an assuring voice. “But you know she’s going to  figure it out  at some point.”

“Well, that’s not going to be anytime soon if I have anything to say about it.”

She stilled, daring to lock eyes with Steve. “ And this is so important to you because… ? ”

“Because… she’s very stubborn.” He smiled grimly at her, with a knowing glint deep in his eyes. “I don’t want her thinking that she can help with this.”

“Do you really think he’s that far gone?” Natasha inquired seriously, lowly. “ Steve, he saved you.  There’s still a chance that he’s in there somewhere.”

“That’s exactly my point,” he suddenly snapped. “If Victoria learns that and gets any sense  that there’s  hope  of sav ing him, she will do everything she can to do that herself . I just don’t want her having any part of this until I know for sure that he… that he  _ can _ be fixed.”

She looked down.  “So you don’t want to lose both of them.  I get that.  And keeping Victoria in the dark about Bucky is how you’re choosing to protect her.”

“It’s the only way I know how,” Steve admitted to her softly, before shifting his eyes up to her  searching green ones. “You think I’m making the wrong call.”

Natasha shrugged and averted her gaze in a slightly careless way. “I’ve learned not to argue."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, the drama! You guys, this is getting good. Thanks so much for your kudos and hits. I'm glad this is getting out there. Please, please comment what you think, I'd love to hear any kind of feedback or questions.


	7. Chapter 7

Victoria was unashamed to say that she was growing used to this new life.  She couldn’t imagine what her life would be like if she had never met Steve and Bucky, and luckily, she didn’t have to. She was also growing more and more attached to them every day, but she would never admit that to them. She constantly felt like she had to keep up a façade with them, that she would have no problem moving on with her life when the time came. But in actuality she knew that it would be a rather  _ large  _ problem, and as much as she didn’t want to worry about it, she did.

However,  she desperately attempted to remove those thoughts from her mind for the time being. Victoria was  sitting  in the living room of her friend’s small apartment, which was actually larger and much  tidier than Steve’s, but she didn’t dare compare them  a loud. Mary’s husband  always worked late into the evening, and this day was no exception, so they had plenty of alone time to study together.

“I thought you didn’t have a man,” Mary  said abruptly before they could even break open the textbook they shared. She smiled at her playfully and Victoria furrowed her brow in return.

“What do you mean? I don’t,” she replied.

“Well, you didn’t see the way that the guy who dropped you off was looking at you, then!” Mary fired back, still in a partially teasing way.  “Who is he? What’s his name? ”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Victoria argued, looking down. “He’s not…”

“His name…?” she pried relentlessly.

“ Bucky,” she finally answered with a heavy sigh. Mary raised her eyebrows, smiling knowingly.

“Oh,  _ Bucky _ ,” her friend repeated, cooing at her. “How long have you known him? He  _ is _ pretty good-looking…”

“There’s nothing going on between us,” Victoria said with conviction. “He’s just my roommate’s friend. We barely know each other.”

“Right. So, he drove you over to my place today because you barely know each other,” Mary mocked lightly. “ Wait… you’ve got a roommate? I thought you said you were taking care of your brother.”

“Well, I am, sort of,” she explained  with hesitation. “ My uncle has him now, until I can get a place of my own. That’s why  I’m struggling with this nursing thing. I don’t know if I can make it work. And my roommate’s my cousin.”

Victoria hoped – prayed – that she didn’t add that last sentence on too quickly that it seemed suspicious. She felt fortunate that her coworker didn’t seem to notice and had little left to argue . Soon they cracked open the nursing book together and got lost in their studying.

When she returned to Steve’s apartment, she expected to be hit with a  questionnaire about  where  she'd been, and that was what worried her the most. She had told him that  her and Mary w ould study together, and now she regretted not telling him when, because he obviously didn’t think she was serious about wanting to .  Now he would find out that she was. And that she had  chosen not to tell him her plans.

Victoria came in the door,  fairly pleased with  the time she had made it back. It could have easily lasted all night at the rate that they were going.

“ Hi, Steve,” she said quietly.

“Victoria.”

Oh. He shortened his usual “Hey,” to just her name. So, something  _ was _ up.  She decided to explain  so  that he wouldn’t have to  ask and drag it out.

“I went to Mary's place,” Victoria told him. “ You know, from the factory? We studied, like we planned.”

Steve nodded, looking away. “So you really are thinking about going to  volunteer…”

“I probably won’t be able to,” she went on. “Not with working and Dominick. It would be stupid to try.” The obvious, logical question that was raised  as a result  sounded in her head.  If it was so stupid, then why was she even studying? 

“I’m just helping a friend out ,” she added hastily.

He nodded again, saying nothing. She knew, deep down, that Steve wasn’t angry with her.  Not at all. He was angry that his friends had the chance to do things  for  the war , and he couldn’t. That was the issue here. Not that she didn’t tell him her plans.

But that she  was thinking about living his dream.

“Well, I’m  gonna head in to bed. Good night, Victoria. ”

She sighed. Her heart swelled with  guilt and regret . Victoria wanted to say more, but she couldn’t get any  of the right words out of her mouth.

“Night, Steve.”

\---

“ Bucky, what is this?”

“You’ve never been to a diner before?”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “Yes, I've been to a diner.  What I’m asking is why you asked me to meet you here.”

Bucky shrugged. “Why do you think?”  She didn’t answer, so he leaned over and said in a hushed tone, “It’s a date, doll.”

She looked up at him. “What? You… you—”

“Do you have a problem with this ?” he asked blandly.

“No, no, I just—”

“Well, we don’t have to call it that, if it makes you uncomfortable…” She felt  slightly  relieved that he  was  concerned about how she felt, but it didn’t change the fact that she  was not ready for this or anything of the sort , for that matter .

“I just wanted to  have dinner with you,” Bucky went on to explain. “ I figured we needed to talk.”

Victoria finally gave in to his persistence and sat down at one of the tables. “About anything in particular , or just…”

“Steve,” they both finished at the  same  time, which caused her to smile widely and nod.

“Right. I should have known.”

“I’m not using you  just  to find out about Steve,” Bucky added hurriedly, making sure that she understood before continuing. “But while we’re at it, I guess…”

She crossed her arms. “Well, I think you’ll be glad to know th at he seems to be holding up to  our deal.”

He raised his eyebrows , clearly shocked to hear this . “ He does ?”

Victoria nodded. “Yeah,  I’ve been keeping an eye on him.  I can tell that h e doesn’t ever lie to me; I don’t think he really can. When ever he went off to falsify another form, he’d come back and say that he  was taking care of business. It was like his code, I guess. And h e hasn’t said that one time since our deal.”

Bucky looked thoughtful. “And what did you make him agree to,  exactly ?”

She shifted her eyes down onto the table , knowing that  he wouldn’t approve of her answer, though it was honest . “I, uh, told him I’d find another way into the war for him.”

His eyes widened. “You… what? You told him that you’d… so, you  _ lied _ to him to get him to stop?”

Victoria attempted to defend herself. “ Well, i t worked, didn’t it? Listen, Bucky, I don’t want him going to the war  any more than you do.  It was the only way I could think of to get him to  listen to anything I was saying. It’s all he wants. I don’t  _ want _ to deny him the chance to go out there, and who says there’s no other way he could go that’s not as dangerous ?”

Bucky stared at her for a moment , almost long enough to make her want to speak up and tell him to spit it out. Then he finally started shaking his head, laughing  humorlessly.

“ You know, it  seemed terrible when I first thought about it, but  I  gotta be honest with you… I would probably have done the same thing.”

She smiled in a  little bit of a smug way. “See? I actually do ca r e about Steve . Although maybe not as much…”

“That’s valid,” Bucky agreed. “Look, I’m glad you came to stay with him ,  Tori, really. You’re taking care of a lot that used to fall on me, as my responsibility. I owe you a lot, so I thought that getting to know you better was a decent start.”

“Okay,” Victoria answered hesitantly. “So… what do you want to know?”

He shook his head again. “That’s not the way you get to know a girl.  You can’t just come right out with it. You have to take it slow, make conversation , and take in all the details.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully, locking eyes with him across the table.  That philosophy seemed pretty infallible.  “Alright, since you know so much about how to do this, then you show me how it’s done.”

“With pleasure.”

\---

Victoria found difficulty pinpointing the exact reason for her plans this evening. She didn’t want it to be out of pity, though  that seemed to have a hand in it.  Mainly she just wanted to spend time with her friends, and supposed it was about time that they met.

It had been a month since she had  studied with Mary for the first time, and they’d made very little progress in the book thus far, so she  had  planned another study date, though this time  she wanted to meet somewhere other than either of their apartments. And she wanted to invite Steve to this one.

Was it really because she pitied him? She did feel bad for leaving him alone at the apartment whenever she went out with Mary for  the  night. And this way, dinner and everything was already taken care of.

What was especially different about this night, though, was that Victoria also had Dominick to take care of.  She felt that her plan was the best  compromise, since  she wouldn’t have to watch him by herself and she wouldn’t be leaving him with Steve.

The three of them met at a nearby park.  She walked with Steve there, with a basket prepared.  S he emptied its contents  on a small hill,  spreading the small quilt out over the grass .  The small blond followed her lead and she noticed how he was still holding her brother awkwardly.

“I think he likes you, you know,” she commented softly, smiling at him. Steve shrugged it off.

“I don’t know, I’ve never really been very good with… kids.”

“Have you been around very many?”

“Well, no…”

Victoria smirked at him. “Then you can’t say that! Listen, any time you feel uncomfortable with him, just hand him to me. I understand, not everyone is good with babies.”

“No, it’s… okay . He  kinda … grows  on you.”

Later on , during their evening, after they had finished their meal and gotten to work on the quiet studying, Victoria looked over at Steve and Dominick, just realizing that he hadn’t said a word in  quite a while. However, her hot worries were soon quenched  when she saw what they were doing.

Steve looked up and grinned at her. He held her brother in his lap on the quilt , so that they faced each other. She heard  the little boy make happy little gurgling noises at him.

“Look, when I make this face at him, he does it back. See? ” Steve stuck out his tongue at Dominick in a silly, slightly  bashful way, and Victoria looked at her baby brother, who quickl y returned the gesture. He stuck out his tongue, as well, and the corners of his lips were turned up. Steve met her eyes again, having forgotten to stick his tongue back in his mouth, which he did quickly. She noticed that he turned bright red, but she didn’t care. It was  so cute.

“Aw, good job Dom!” she praised him. “ That is so sweet, Steve.”

“ You two are adorable,” Mary beamed. Steve looked down , still clearly a little embarrassed, but smiling all the same.

“He really does like you,” Victoria went on to tell him confidently. “He’s sh y around most  people , but not you.”

The blond  man didn’t say much for the rest of the night, but she could tell that he was warming up to little Dominick and  had this glowing,  content aura about him the entire time.  She supposed that learning he was actually liked by this kid really made his night, which made her smile uncontrollably.

\---

Victoria  was sitting on Steve ’s couch one night,  with a tranquil feeling  deep in her chest.  Just the evening  before, they both had been invited over to the Barnes residence for a nice little dinner. It was the two of them, the four Barnes’ and Becky’s boyfriend,  Scott.  She found that she really enjoyed the conversation now that she had gotten to know them all better, and Mr. Barnes laid off the war-talk, for which both her and Bucky were grateful.

She was really starting to feel at home with this group of people, who had welcomed her without hesitation. It was different from her previous home life, but it was the good kind of change.  While it still felt a little strange to be around them so often, their kindness gave her the courage to  carry on with her life and do things that made her happy. She hadn’t felt able to do that since the loss of her mother, honestly.

But the thing that really had her giddy  at the moment wa s another piece of conversation that had occurred, as well.

_ Victoria had only barely noticed that Bucky had swung his arm over the back of her chair as they all reclined at the dinner table, just finished with their meal, when Becky spoke up. _

_ “So,  _ _ if you don’t mind me asking, are you two…?” _

_ She swiftly raised her eyebrows and was just about to answer when she cut herself off. She didn’t want to  _ _ give a definite answer before she knew what Bucky thought, and she was torn between calling off the  _ _ idea _ _ and confirming it. _

_ “ _ _ We’re… um, just seeing where this goes.” _

_ Victoria’s breath caught in her throat, though she nodded in Becky’s direction without missing a beat.  _ _ She turned to look at Bucky for a moment, who smiled, and there was hesitation in his eyes that lasted right until she smiled back. So he was worried that he’d  _ _ said the wrong thing, but her smile showed him that she had no problem with it. _ _ That she agreed. _

_ It was a simple, nonchalant answer, and yet it meant so much.  _ _ He had confirmed nothing but everything in one, broken sentence. _ _ His answer  _ _ didn’t make things official, which made her very grateful, because if _ _ he _ _ had confirmed it she would have been upset, but he was stating that he  _ _ was open to it, in time. _

_ And Victoria found that she really, really liked that idea. _

Her  heart  fluttered like a teenager with a crush as she sat and thought about this.  Part of her was  pretty disappointed that she felt like this about him, b ecause she did not need a guy right now. But if what he said was true… what  harm could it do?

Victoria certainly was smart enough not to jump to any conclusions. It was best to keep a logical view of this. Bucky was a good man, and by now she completely trusted him. 

The only thing that held her back was the fact that he planned to leave this summer. Long-distance relationships, she knew, rarely lasted.

But if she volunteered  for the nursing program…

Victoria pushed that notion out of her mind. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t leave Dominick, and Steve… there was so many loose ends to her life that needed tying. She’d be a fool to run off and forget about it all. Maybe in the future, she could, if she got several things in order first.

Right now, she wanted to focus on the present. However, something quite unexpected happened just then, which startled her from her thoughts on the sofa. Someone rapped on the door,  urgently and  forcefully. She immediately stood and approached the peephole in surprised haste. They weren’t expecting anyone tonight.

Victoria checked and saw  a br own-haired man , dripping from the rain outside,  and standing under the cover of their porch  with a grim expression. She  speedily pulled the door open.

“Bucky?” She wasn’t unable to hide the confusion in her tone. “Is something wrong?” She noticed that he wasn’t smiling, and his blue eyes were red and puffy. Her heart panged in  sudden,  deep sympathy.

“Uh,  well, doll…” He rubbed his back and inhaled. “I thought you two should be the first to get the news. Get Steve, will you?”

Victoria could tell – she saw it in his expression – that he was trying to cover up his emotions. Whatever happened… it was painful and he was trying not to show that.  Even his voice shook.

“Steve, come here for a second, please. It’s Bucky,” she went to his doorway and said. Steve sat at his small desk, working on a new piece of art for the comic studio. He furrowed his brow in concern and followed her out to the living room where his friend stood. Bucky had taken off his sopping hat and held it in his grasp in front of his waist .

“ What happened?” Steve instantly asked, sensing the heavy tone in the air.  Their friend was not his usual,  sarcastic and light-hearted self , tonight. Bucky sighed and would not meet their eyes.

“It’s… it’s Mom and Dad…” he finally got out. “ There was an accident  this morning… they were on their way to the store, in my car, and the brakes went out. Straight into a tree.”

Victoria’s eyes widened with realization and  her heat rate picked up. “Oh, Bucky… they’re … both of them …? ”

“They’re gone,” he  confirmed quietly, barely louder than a whisper. She heard  Steve inhale shakily next to her. This obviously hurt him, as well, because he  had  grown up with Bucky’s parents , almost as close as his own.

_ “T _ _ hey’re both good people _ _ ,” he’d said about them. _ __ _ “ _ _ They practically raised me _ _.” _

“Oh, Bucky, I’m so sorry…”

Before any of them could say anything , Steve rushed forward and wrapped Bucky in an emotional hug. Victoria bit her lip to keep it from quivering. She watched the  two men embrace each other sadly and it broke her heart. Neither one  said a word – there was nothing to say.

When Steve finally pulled away, Bucky cleared his throat.

“The funeral is scheduled for this  Saturday. We want you both to come, and Steve… I suggested you for one of the pallbearers. Is that—”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’d be… honored.”

Victoria pursed her lips.  “And Becky, how is she?”

“She’s… inconsolable, right now. I don’t blame her. With me going off soon,  and the house left to the two of us, it’s going to be hard . ”

She inhaled a heavy breath. “Well, if you two ever need anything…”

“Thanks. I think we’ll be okay, in time.  I’m at the point where I can take care of myself, now.  I’m mostly worried about Becky.  She’ll… need someone to provide for her.”

Victoria nodded, and Steve piped up with another question after  a quiet, solemn moment .

“What about your car? Is it fixable?”

Bucky shook his head darkly. “ The damage is too bad.  Thing is, this all could’ve been prevented. I knew about those brakes, they’ve been faulty for a  couple weeks, now . They’ve been going out on me occasionally, I just never got around to fixing them. If I had… those darn  _ brakes _ …”

“Hey,” Victoria attempted to soothe his fiery, grieving tone with her own soft one. “ You can’t blame yourself. It never turns out well.  You can’t change what happened by  being angry with yourself. All you can do is forgive yourself for things you can’t control and move on.”

His eyes were still glassy, and  she continued to feel weighted sympathy. No – it was empathy. She had been through this before, after losing both parents, feeling the  loss and the guilt and the grief… she understood. And so did Steve, who voice d this very thing.

“We know what you’re going through, Buck. If you ever need to talk…”

Bucky clenched his jaw and nodded. “ You got it, pal.  I guess I should head back and be with Becky.  I’ll see you guys around. Feel free to stop by the house anytime. Thanks for  being… there. I’m glad I have you, both of you. ”

That night, Victoria went to bed with a heavy heart, but one single resolution.

Bucky was strong enough to get through th is. Although it was sure to be immensely difficult, s he  knew that she loved her new friends, and she knew that as long as they stuck together, they could get through anything, no matter how difficult.  Their friendship was strong enough to get them through hardships and come out okay, together.

Somehow it was a foreboding thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little Steve interacting with a baby is something you never knew you needed, right? Thank you all so much for your feedback last chapter. Sharing this story means a lot to me and I personally hope you all enjoy it. Leave a comment and let me know what you think, where you think this is going, etc. :)


	8. Chapter 8

Victoria  had the slight feeling that she was the odd one out, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because for once, she still felt… included.

“So let me get this straight. You’ve lived in Brooklyn your whole life, and you’ve never been to Coney Island? Not even once?”

She shrugged. “My family couldn’t always afford it.  Dad was usually too drunk or busy at the bar to go out with us much.  When it was just my mom and I… my idea of fun wasn’t really going anywhere special. I just… enjoyed  spending  down  time with her.”

Bucky nodded, with no further argument. “That’s fair enough, I guess. I’m sorry if I made you feel  weird by the way I said that, that’s not what I meant—”

She cut him off as they walked. “No, it’s okay. I’m not upset about it . I’m just glad I can experience this  _ Coney Island _ now, with you two.”

“It really isn’t much…” Steve murmured, leaning over closer to her ear. Victoria didn’t answer – she really didn’t care. So what if  others thought that this amusement park wasn’t all that great? All that mattered to her was having a good time with her friends. Honestly, she hadn’t come to expect very much.

As they arrived at the park, she supposed it would be underwhelming for anyone who had expected some grand  place, but to her it seemed very pleasant. It also wasn’t crowded, which made it that much more  peaceful. Their afternoon was spent  perusing the small shops, eating  hot dogs for lunch,  and just exploring.

Afterwards, Bucky suggested they go on  the small rollercoaster nearby. Victoria quickly tried to quell this idea, but he was persistent on dragging Steve with him, so she let them go while she stayed behind. She was fine just watching, anyways.

And she supposed her  decision was  justified based on the green shade  Steve’s face  became when he got off the ride. She felt bad that  his friend had forced him to do it, because he clearly regretted it.

Later, as the sun started to set, the three of them sat down on a nearby bench. Victoria could tell that something was on Bucky’s mind,  and she didn’t even have to ask because Steve beat her to  the punch .

“Okay, I think Victoria will agree with me when I say we both know that you didn’t bring us here just to  have a fun afternoon.  You have something to tell us , and you used this as your opportunity to do that.”

She nodded in agreement, and they simultan eously turn ed to Bucky, who merely shrug ged .

“I was just craving a hot dog today.”

“Bucky,” Victoria whined .

“Alright, alright, you’re both right, I do have to tell you guys something, but I didn’t plan this just for that. I thought we needed some time together for just the three of us. Before… the summer comes.”

Steve was never one for dragging things out longer than they needed to be. Especially hard topics . So, he wasted no time to ask.  “You’re enlisting, aren’t you?”

Bucky seemed reluctant to nod with honesty. “I have to.”

“I don’t need you to make excuses, Buck,” Steve cut in. “ I get it. It’s your life, you can do whatever you want.”

“I’m not making excuses,” he retort ed defensively. “I’m just letting you two know that I wouldn’t be going if I didn’t need to. But work is really slowing down,  they’re  starting to lay people off, and I get the feeling that bankruptcy isn’t far away for them. I won’t be able to support Becky for much longer, so…”

“ You’re doing your duty,” Steve finished. “Right. There’s nothing to explain.”

“Yeah, there is,” his friend argued. “ I need you two to promise me something.”

Victoria furrowed her eyebrows, feeling that she was becoming a large part of this conversation turn, now. “What is it?”

Bucky inhaled. “I need you both to promise me that you’ll  never give up on what you want.”

Steve seemed confused. “I thought you didn’t want me trying to go to war anymore…”

“I don’t,” he was quick to clarify. “ It’s illegal and dangerous and stupid . D on’t falsify  another single form . I don’t want Victoria having to worry over you.”

The small blond  crossed his arms pointedly . “Then you lost me there.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I  _ mean  _ don’t give up on your dreams b y doing what Victoria said and  finding another way to serve. You have potential, Steve; you could do a lot more for the war than just the fighting. They could use anything you can give them, right now. ”

Steve was noticeably irritated by this, based on how he looked away and exhaled out of his nose.  His friend ignored this and turned over to Victoria.

“And Tori, we both know how bad you want to join the nursing program. Don’t shoot that idea down just yet. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you two just gave up because I left.”

Victoria managed  to find a humorous smile. “Oh, so we would give up just because you weren’t here nagging us?”

He smirked and raised his palms up, shaking his head. “Obviously, doll. What else am I here for?”

She had started the day by thinking that maybe  she was just invited out because she was Steve’s roommate , and it would be rude to leave her by herself . But now that notion was becoming more and more faint, as Victoria start ed thinking it  was something a little deeper than that.

\---

Leave it to her crazy, messed up life to ruin a peaceful night’s walk . She was walking home  from work, as she did every day. Sometimes she got lucky enough to  have Bucky pick her up on his own way home from his job at the junkyard, but  he was off today and would probably have already been in bed, since it was almost  ten o’clock,  anyway.

She walked down the sidewalk in the pitch - black night,  her usual route back to the apartment she shared with Steve. Every night she passed Mrs. Banner’s house, which she could identify by  its garden full of both flowers and vegetables. The once happy, bright yard seemed ominous  in the dark.  Usually she stopped by to say hello, but that was when she came home at her normal time and  hadn’t worked so late. Tonight she wasn’t planning to bother the woman, but she didn’t have to.

Mrs. Banner’s front door  cracked open just as she passed and  the older lady stepped outside to meet her. Victoria furrowed her eyebrows.

“Mrs. Banner, what are you doing out so late?”

“I made you a loaf of bread and I wanted to give it to you tonight before it went stale,” she informed her in a straightforward tone. “ I didn’t know you’d be so late.”

“I’m sorry, I decided to work a few extra hours tonight before work starts slowing down,” Victoria explained regretfully. “ I got off a lot later than I expected.”

“Well, I can see that,” Mrs. Banner replied  with light scorn, handing her the small pan of bread all the same. Victoria lifted up its cover and sniffed – it still even felt warm.

“Thank you,” she told the woman.  “But you really shouldn’t have stayed out so late.”

“Why, because I’m old? Nonsense.  I almost never have an extra loaf; I figured you could use it .”

“We always can,” Victoria agreed lowly. “ Thanks again.”

“How is it going with that boy, Steve? And Dominick , how is he ?”

“It’s good, it’s all going good, Dominick is doing just fine. I just went to see him yesterday. He’s been talking, he can say  my name. Kind of. It sounds more like “ick-tor- y uh ”, but it’s close.”

The two women shared a laugh. “He was always a cutie.  Trust me,  it won’t be long before he can say whole sentences and talk your ear off.”

Victoria tried for a smile, even though this remark filled her with  remorse. She had been thinking a lot about how much of her brother’s life she had already missed. She wanted to be as much a part of it as possible, but…  it really didn’t seem plausible at this time in her life.

She was just about to cut off their conversation about how her situation with Steve was going when a car drove up, suspiciously close to them. Victoria looked over her shoulder and saw that whoever it was rolled down their window, almost definitely for her, since there was no one else around. She expected it to be Bucky, as Steve had probably gotten worried and  likely called him to check on her. But she was taken aback to see that it wasn’t.

“…Mr. Desmond?”

“Hello,  Miss Hensley,” he replied in a deep, quiet tone, his words slurring together in the drunken fashion she knew all too well. “Having a good evening?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m sorry, can I do anything for you? It’s really late, sir. I didn’t think I was doing business with you anymore.”

“ Mm… must’ve lost track of the time,” he mumbled. “Doesn’t matter. I wanted to talk to you. It seems like you  have… heard things that you shouldn’t have.  You were never supposed to find out about it all, I was supposed to… to take care of you. I thought I did, but… it just didn’t work out. ”

Victoria couldn’t believe her ears.  How could t his man th ink that it was somehow his job to take care of h er ?  She immediately dismissed this notion from Mr. Desmond, who had left her out in the cold with her brother, refusing to fix her windows and  never even checking to see if they had survived the snowy night on the streets.  What he did was the farthest thing from  _ taking care _ of her. The man had almost killed them.

However,  Victoria started to think  was taking his phrase in the wrong sense.

When she saw the gun in his hand, every muscle in her body seemed to tense up in a split second. She attempted to calm him – a n instinctual, adrenaline-fueled reaction.

“Wait, wait, Mr. Desmond, what are you doing? You – you don’t have to do this. ”

“I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago.”

Victoria’s breath caught in her throat as Mr. Desmond stuck his hand out the window, aimed at her, and  fired. It was as if the world moved in slow motion. She saw the burst of fire from the  bullet leaving the gun and prepared herself to  have a wound in her chest , because she didn’t have nearly enough time to get away. It  was like she had accepted it just as soon as she heard the gun shot.

But then time started again, and she looked up at the man, whose eyes were wide. She felt herself, noting that she had no pain.  Maybe it just took a while to kick in; Victoria didn’t know. She’d never been shot before.

Mr. Desmond didn’t hesitate to punch the gas  as soon as  he could, and before Victoria could think , he was gone.

She didn’t understand.  The gun had fired. He had been aiming in her direction. But she was fine. There wasn’t any blood on her body.

Then Victoria heard a soft moan from behind her and  spun in sudden emotion to see that Mrs. Banner was lying on the ground, clutching her stomach.

“Oh my gosh…”

She crouched down to get a look at her side, which was bleeding profusely .  The woman struggled to breathe, and Victoria couldn’t comfort her properly , for she felt  too deep in shock to speak.

“I’ll be okay, dear,” Mrs. Banner finally croaked, and she squeezed her hand as tightly as she could. Victoria could barely see through her glassy eyes.

“I’ll… I’ll get you some help, they’ll catch him…”

“No, Victoria… there’s not enough time for that. You must keep yourself safe. I was glad I could…”

Mrs. Banner trailed off and  she choked back a sob. Victoria’s  longest remaining friend was gone.

\---

She was running. That’s all she really knew.  Her feet carried her in one general direction, but she wasn’t paying conscious attention to it. Fresh, wet tears were streaming down her face and cheek s so that it made the hair closest to her face slightly damp. The only thing that propelled her forward was her emotions , still powered by  the  adrenaline that pumped through her body.

The police had come and she had sent them after Mr. Desmond, praying that they would catch him  and finally be able to lock him up forever.

As far as she k new in that moment, Victoria really only had one viable option, once she  dealt with the police who came up to her soon after hearing the gunshot and they had taken Mrs. Banner away. And that was to go to the Barnes’ old house.

She remembered the way there with ease – she barely had to think about where she was going. Victoria couldn’t go back to  the apartment she shared with Steve, not at this hour, with blood all over her hands and  cheeks sticky from tears . She meant no offense to her friend, but he woul dn’t have been able to handle it if he  had seen her  enter the apartment in this state.  Not because he couldn’t handle things like this, but because he cared about her, felt responsible for her, and had probably been up late worrying already.

Bucky had a much cooler head during things like this and wouldn’t jump to  drastic  conclusions the same way that  she knew  Steve would have.  Also, what she needed right now was to be comforted, not questioned . The man she considered her almost-boyfriend would be better suited for that than her roommate. And maybe after the comforting was over, he could actually help her with her current problem.

None of this was anything against Steve at all – there were just things that roommates were not suited for.

Victoria most likely wasn’t thinking straight, or at all, but she really didn’t care. She was still in shock and… she just wanted a hug.  Another person’s presence.  She probably  _ needed _ something like that at this point.

She  considered what to do when she arrived in the Barnes’ yard. She definitely couldn’t go knocking on the front door at this time of night;  everyone was fast asleep, she expected. She had no desire to wake everybody in the house up then. Victoria really only needed one person.

The  one solution to this dilemma popped into her mind, and  her  shock ed, sleep-deprived mind just took it in its stride. It was only a few beats before she had hoisted herself up using  a small tree on the side of the tall white house, coin ci dentally  right outside Bucky’s bedroom window. It wasn’t too difficult for her to pull herself up onto a relatively sturdy branch  so that she could easily see through the window. Finally, she managed to  push the window up so that the frame was open for her to fit through.

Victoria used one leg to  pull herself into the room silently , and soon she was standing in the bedroom o n the other side of the window .  She could make out a lump on the small bed inside, covered  by the blankets which were pulled up all around it. It stirred when she closed the window back. She attempted to gain control of her emotions as she knew he was going to wake up, now.

Bucky  shifted around in his bed, and it wasn’t long before he turned on the lamp on his bedside table and a pair of blue eyes blinked up at her. He sighed.

“…Tori?”

Victoria couldn’t bring herself to speak. This clearly alarmed him and he quickly stood after he’d analyzed her , slipping a white tank top over his bare chest. “What… what are you doing here? It’s late.”

She decided to be perfectly honest. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Bucky approached her, running a hand through his hair. His eyes caught on her  own  bloody hands and her  salty tear-soaked face.

“What happened?”

His face, so full of concern and worry for her, is what got her.  She had thought she was keeping it together alright , but in  truth she was the farthest thing from being composed. Bucky saw this and  pulled her in for a hug. “Hey, hey, come here…”

Victoria broke down.

“You  gotta tell me what’s going on,” he finally told her softly , cupped the side of her face in his fingers. He gently pushed her forward so that she could look at him. She was sure that her eyes were  totally red and puffy , but the amount of fear she could see in his eyes made her want to  explain to him that much more.

“It’s… it was Mr. Desmond.”

\---

When she finally finished explaining her teary story to Bucky, his face was contorted with both anger and  sympathy for her.  Victoria tried to  talk him down from all those emotions .

“I know you want to help, but nothing more can be done tonight,” she said. “ I already talked to the police and they’re working on it.  I just…”

His expr ession softened almost instantly and it was obvious that he understood what she was getting at . “ You need rest. Uh, here, let’s get you cleaned up, and then I’ll find you a place to sleep.”

Bucky showed her to the bathroom and she made her way inside in order to clean her hands and wash up her sticky face. At least she seemed to be  mostly  out of tears for the evening. Just his presence felt like it  comfort ed her, and his embrace made her feel much less alone. Victoria still had a million worries and grief left to endure , but having Bucky there made it seem… manageable.

She didn’t waste any time in getting into the guest bed downstairs, where  he  followed her to ensure she was settled.

Bucky stayed in the room and just held her until she calmed down. Victoria could barely bring herself to speak because of the horrifying event she’d witnessed that night, so she needed some time to  let herself  rest. Mrs. Banner had looked  after her and Dominick, her entire family, really, ever since she was a little girl. Bucky seemed to get this, and neither of them said a word until she spoke up, finally  fall ing into  place on the soft  bed.

“I’m sorry I came here and woke you up,” Victoria told him as she peeled back the  white  sheets of the bed which  seemed to have gone unused for quite a long time. She got inside and looked up at Bucky, who waved this off.

“You did the right thing.  You didn’t have many options, and I’m glad you didn’t go back to Steve’s place,  ‘cause he would have … well, you know what I mean. I don’t need him going out to fight someone else’s battles when he can barely handle his own.”

“He’s sure to find out about this  soon enough, anyway,” she added lightly. He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I’m sure. I half expect him at the house in a few hours asking where you are.”

\---

“Where’s Victoria?”

His tone was less  accusatory than it was fearful and  desperate. This seemed to be his last resort, a final stretch of hope for him.

Bucky smirked as he let Steve inside,  who looked at a loss for how calm his friend was acting.

“What’s going on? Have you seen her? She never came back to the apartment last night, I ’ve checked for her everywhere—”

“Relax, pal. She’s fine. She’s been here all night.”

Steve was  clearly incredulous. “ Oh. Oh… so s he came her e, w hy? What happened?”

Victoria took this moment to step out from behind  the wall so that her roommate could see her more clearly in the  dark room, lit by the sunrise outside from the open front door. His mouth hung open.

“Hey, Steve.” He just seemed to notice Buck y placing a hat on his head, as if leaving. 

“Where are you going ?” asked Steve. “ It’s early…  is anyone ever  gonna fill me in on what’s going on here?”

“We’ll do that on the way.”

Getting in Bucky’s new- ish car that he had gotten primarily for Becky after his  previous one had been totaled in his parents’ crash, Victoria elected to sit next to Steve . It was partly because she didn’t feel like  abandoning him to sit  by himself in the back once again as his friend drove , and because she wanted to talk to him  about what happened  without having to look back at him in a condescending way. Just the sight of his  relieved expression that she was okay filled her chest with gratitude. He deserved to  hear everything from a friend, not a distant roommate who had chosen her boyfriend over him. The thought made her shudder in  shame, but she knew it wasn’t like that at all.

She felt like Steve had a decent understanding of her issue that night and why she had gone to the Barnes’ place the  night before by the time they arrived at her uncle’s house.

“Thanks for the ride,” Victoria said as they unbuckled themselves. “You two don’t have to come with me . I can take care of this.”

“Do you somehow think that we’re not a part of this?” Bucky asked quickly, like he was shocked that she could suggest such an idea.  She crossed her arms stubbornly as Steve’s voice sounded from next to her.

“ You may not get it  yet , but this matters to us, too. You’ve lived at my apartment for almost six months, now. It’s more than just… being polite.  I don’t care if you  understand it, but if I can – if we can help you with this , we  will.”

Bucky pursed his lips smugly. “I think what Steve’s trying to say here is that we’re coming with you, doll, whether you like it or not.”

Victoria stared at them a moment, half-disbelieving that they had reacted like this, but deep down, she wasn’t very surprised, because she knew they would want to help her out.  Since  what had happened with Mrs. Banner… she couldn’t really concentrate on anything  and her heart raced uncontrollably. She really just needed answers and she was more than indebted to her friends for  stay ing with her during all this.

When  Bucky grabbed her hand  as they started up the steps to Uncle Ivan’s house, Victoria felt as if she could do anything.

The three of them were met by  the caretaker, Marie, pulling the door open and straightening her dress. It had taken her a few minutes to get the door, and Victoria was sure it had to do with waking her brother. She held a sleepy toddler in her arms and stared at them perplexedly.

“ My, it’s very early,” Marie said, showing them into the dark house, though it always appeared dark there to her.  Victoria swallowed and attempted to speak with urgency.

“I need to talk to Uncle Ivan.”

Before she had much time to process what had happened, the three friends were sitting down with her uncle in front of his  blazing fireplace, sipping tea out of small cups. Ivan seemed as alert as ever, and she had been informed that he was  already awake when they had arrived.

Victoria smiled in spite of the circumstance  when she was handed a tired Dominick,  who almost immediately reached out for Steve  and she obliged  him by handing  her brother over to the guy sitting beside her. He took  Dominick with slight reluctance but grinned at the boy when he received him. She loved that  they were such good buddies, now.

“Victoria, you look very pale, my dear.  Are you comfortable talking about what happened , yet? I don’t want to force you to tell us. I would have to guess you ’ve already explained the situation to these men, here. If you would like, I could hear it from them .”

Victoria marveled at the wise suggestion, because  she did feel like if she opened her mouth to tell the story once again, she would almost definitely break down.  She could have guessed  beforehand  that Bucky would  immediately volunteer to explain what had happened to Ivan, and she didn’t complain when he did.

Uncle Ivan sat back in his seat, and just listened to her  friend give the story with all the details she had described to him through tears just hours before. When Bucky finished, he looked at me as if to make sure  what he had said was correct. Victoria responded with a slight nod, and then all eyes were on her uncle , waiting for him to give his opinion.

“ It is clear that this is a serious matter,” he told them softly. “Worse than I thought. I hadn’t previously realized tha t Desmond was a part of—”

He cut himself off and Steve was the one who  seemed the most curious for him to finish.

“A part of what?”

Ivan looked hard-pressed to go on, but he finally did, slowly. “ There is another organization , full of corrupt people… it is the one that mine works against. To take this group down once and for all is our ultimate goal.  They… they call themselves HYDRA.”

Bucky made a thoughtful , concerned face. “HYDRA… th at sound s like bad news. ”

“Trust me, it is. Now that I know of Mr. Desmond’s involvements  with them, I will be sure to properly take care of that. I should have known there was a reason he always stuck so close to Elena and Bob…”

“Wait,  what do my parents have to do with this? They weren’t a part of … your organization, were they?”

Ivan smiled grimly. “I’m sorry to say that my job came with more exposure than I ever planned. I tried my best to keep them disconnected from me,  but HYDRA  certainly  does their research. I suppose Desmond always kept an eye on them to make sure they weren’t secret ly agents of the SSR.”

Victoria looked down. “I suppose that explains why he always hated me.  He told me that he thought he had taken care of me, but  that  he failed.  Now I see that he really  _ was _ trying to kill us when he left us out in the cold that night…”

“I am thankful that your friend was there to save you that night ,” her uncle said, which made the three friends share small smiles between each other. “ And  it’s because of this friendship that I must ask you not to interfere with this problem any longer . I can take care of Desmond and make sure that he never harms Victoria ever again.”

“No disrespect,  Mr. Romanov,  sir, but Steve and I have handled that guy before. We can do it again if we’re so inclined. He’s a crook and he doesn’t deserve any mercy from us. I mean, he  _ tried to _ —”

“You’re right,” Uncle Ivan agreed, nodding. “I will make sure that he  is properly punished for his crimes.  You have my word, and my gratitude, for taking care of my niece so well. If you two could excuse us for a moment, though, I’d like to have a word with her.”

Both of the guys turned to her in an instant, but she nodd ed in their direction confidently, showing them not to worry about her. Victoria was really coming to trust Ivan, and he seemed to want to help the best he could. So she would  grant him this time alone.

“We’ll be right downstairs,” Bucky told her as he and his friend stood and left the niece and  her uncle to themselves.

The man sighed and stirred his teabag around with his spoon. “ Victoria, I know you’re concerned for your brother, but you shouldn’t be. You must focus on yourself  now.  Dominick is being raised well, I have made sure of that, and he will always have you close to him.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “ Why are you saying that? I get all of it. And I’m not planning on going anywhere, if that’s what you mean.”

Uncle Ivan made a sound of protest, setting his teacup down in front of him. “ That’s not entirely true, I don’t think. With Bucky going off to war very soon, forgive me if I’m overstepping here, but  I thought you may want to go off, too. To join the nursing program, like your mother, more specifically.”

Victoria was admittedly surprised to hear his correct assumption. “Uh,  how did you know about that?  I never—”

“ I’m sorry,  I just assumed you would  take after your mother. You know, she always said you had her knack for nursing.  My job is to collect information  about people, and I’m afraid that carries over to my family.  The Red Cross is taking in as many volunteers as they can  right now and I figured there was a chance you would at least consider it. And I think you should do it.”

She shook her head without hesitation. “ No, I couldn’t. Not with Steve, and Dom… I still have to get my own place and—”

“You’re overwhelmed, and you need some time for yourself, to pursue your own passions,” her uncle  said,  cut ting her off. “ This could be good for you. You’ve been working so hard, and you’ve been through a lot, and really… it’s not safe for you to stay in the same place for so long. Not anymore.”

Victoria took a shaky breath and met Ivan’s eyes. “You’re saying that… that I’m not safe here? Because of Mr. Desmond?”

“I don’t know, there could be more like him  around, now that you have been connected to me.  I can do a lot, but I cannot ensure that the next one will have a drunken aim.”

She swallowed nervously and he continued before she could speak. “I don’t mean to scare you, but I do want to warn you.  And you should know that you’re not being selfish. You truly have your mother’s heart for others. But pursuing your own passions , every once in a while , is  fine , too . You won’t be disappointing everyone like you think. ”

Victoria rubbed her arms together. “But… Dominick needs me…”

“He is still very small and needs the extra care that you are frankly unable to provide at the moment.  Your  brother will manage  without you  for a few months while you are away , just like he has been doing fine so far . And I  will try my best to send  letters and pictures of him to you as often as I can. He is safest with me, right now.”

She could barely believe her ears. All this time she had wanted to volunteer, very deep down, but had pushed the thought far out of her mind for so long. And now , was she seriously considering it?  In all honesty, she was terrified about what had happened and confused about what she should do and worried for the future…

Victoria didn’t even think as she rushed her uncle for an embrace. He let out a surprised  _ oof _ when she did it but rubbed her back all the same.

“ I know you must be very worried, but I do not wish you to be. Just think on it.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. “ There’s another thing, though. With Bucky going off… I’m worried about Steve. He  really wants to go and fight, any way he can. If I leave him here, he could…”

Ivan tapped his lip pensively . “I think I may have some connections that could help him.”

\---

Victoria had a lot to think about. Her life had changed so much and she felt as if she hadn’t caught up with it, yet. For such a long time it had been just her and her brother, and then Dominick had been taken away. But she had worked that all out, and honestly had never felt closer to the little boy.  Gaining two good friends on top of it was very helpful, as well.

But now everything was different and was likely about to get even worse.  Victoria couldn’t bring herself to explain to Steve how she was probably going off to become  a war nurse and had to leave him alone.  To cap it off, Bucky was leaving in a week, and the last thing she wanted to do was to say goodbye to him.

She wasn’t  surprised to find out that he had invited her to his house that night , as they were running out of chances to properly  spend time with him before he  left.  Victoria was ready after work at  seven o’clock and found Steve sitting in the living room, working on some sort of drawing in his sketchbook . She  watched him for  almost a minute – he never acknowledged her.

“Hey, are you ready to go?”

“Oh, no, he only invited you,” replied Steve,  as if  he  were just  brushing dirt off his jacket coolly .  Her expression softened.

“ Oh, I’m sorry,” she told him. “I didn’t know…”

“It’s fine.”

She was silent until he looked up, forcing him to look at her to make sure he was being honest.

“Really, it’s okay,” Steve said with a small, reassuring smile. “ I know I can’t always tag along with you two, and I can tell he likes  you , so you guys need some… alone time.”

Victoria grinned and nodded, opening the door to the  warm summer night. “ There’s some leftover meatloaf in the fridge if you want it for supper.  I’ll be sure that I’m back before late.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

She arrived at the Barnes’ old house, wearing a plain brick  red dress  truly because she was unsure what to wear, and she figured it was better to come overdressed than under.  To her  relief, Bucky also seemed to be rather dressed up for the occasion.

“James Barnes, are you wearing a  _ tie _ ?”

He adjusted it  proudly after wincing at the sound of his own full name . “Like it? I figured it was one of my last  chances to prove that I actually own one. ” She snorted a s he went on. “I also was under the impression that you had to  improve from the first date, so I thought this was a good way to do that.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow at him  teasingly. “ Are you calling this our second date, then?”

Bucky considered her suggestion . “Yes,” he decided.  “Come on, we’re both dressed up,  we’re alone, there’s food, and…” He reached over to  press a button on the stereo on the table beside him. “ And there’s a nice, slow song playing.”

She smiled and took his hand , soon leaning into his embrace. It was what she loved so much about their relationship – there was a lot that was still unclear, but he always seemed to know exactly what she needed at the perfect moment . They’d both been struggling with a lot lately and it was about to get  relatively worse in the next week or so. But right now she just wanted to spend time with him, uninterrupted and peaceful.

He ran  his hand through her hair softly as they swayed to the beat . “You know, I just can’t stop thinking about you, Tori.  Haven’t been  able to  for as long as I can remember. For some reason, everything just keeps coming back to you. You’re not like any other girl I’ve ever known.  It’s like dealing with pain is  second nature for you and yet  you always seem… okay. More than okay. Perfect. You don’t expect anything from anybody and  you’re just  _ easy _ to be around.”

Victoria made a face at him. “That’s way too many compliments for me to find an answer to. I don’t know who ’s brainwashed you…”

“ _ You _ have,” Bucky said without falter. She felt herself blushing.

“Well, to be fair, I feel the same way about you. You’ve always been there for me, and I can never thank you enough for that.”

“Tonight’s good for now,” he  told her, and immediately a wave of sadness  crashed down over her. 

“I guess now is as good a time as ever for me to tell you that I’m planning to volunteer with the Red Cross,” Victoria explained slowly. He nodded.

“Good , that’s great . I convinced you.”

“ Well, it was both you and Uncle Ivan. He said that I’m not safe here anymore. I trust him with Dominick, and I guess Steve will be here to  check on him every now and then.”

“Steve…”

“Yeah, I have no idea how to break  i t to him,”  she admitted.

“He’ll be happy for you,” Bucky said. “At least on the outside.”

“That’s the problem. I know he’ll actually be  disappointed . It could really make him want to get out there that much more. Oh, but that reminds me, Uncle Ivan said he could help him out with that.”

He furrowed his brow. “How?”

“I don’t know, he wouldn’t say ,” Victoria sai d regretfully. “ But I’m worried about him…”

“Don’t be. He’s not your responsibility, and not mine either. I  think I’ve been too overprotective of him, anyways, but don’t tell him that. He’s smart, and anything that happens  to him from now on,  whatever trouble he gets into,  he can handle without us . We both have lives now.  We’re all adults, anyways.  He should be glad to have us off his back.”

She frowned. “I hope you’re right.”

Later that night, after the two of them had enjoyed a nice, quiet meal and had another dance, Bucky sat down on the couch and she rested her head  underneath his arm on the side of his chest.

“I can’t believe this is happening, right before you go off to war and everything…  it’s just my luck.”

“You’re not enjoying yourself?”

“No, that’s the  thing. I am, Bucky.  I…”

She couldn’t bring herself to let the words on her tongue leave her lips, but Bucky got the message and pressed his mouth closed.

“I know, doll.” He wrapped his arm around her slightly tighter.

“ The timing couldn’t be worse. I don’t know  how we’ll be able to see each other…”

“Well, now that you’ll be a nurse, it’ll be much easier.”

“ No, because for me to see you means that you’ll have to be…”

“I’ll be okay,” Bucky assured he r. “ I try my best to stay safe. But I can’t promise that I won’t be complaining so much that they have to send me to  you for a check-up every now and then .”

Victoria smiled through her teary eyes. “Okay, I’ll be counting on it. And letters, every week.”

“You got it. You know, it’s a much better feeling when you have someone to come home to. Besides Steve.”

She scoffed lightl y and met his  shining  blue eyes.  She felt that his optimism was pretty misplaced, but she loved him for it.

She was also disappointed when she  considered  how long it would be until he came home, because she knew he’d stay as long as  his  country needed him.  Victoria never thought she would dislike someone’s devotion to America so  much .


End file.
